University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


R   IIARXDKN 
The  originator  of  tin-  Express  llusl 


H  I  S  T  0  E  Y 


OP  THE 


EXPEESS  COMPANIES 


AND  THE   ORIGIN   OF 


AMERICAN  RAILROADS, 


TOGETHER    WITH 


SOME  REMINISCENCES   OF  THE  LATTER  DAYS  OF  THE  MAIL 

COACH  AND  BAGGAGE  WAGON  BUSINESS  IN  THE 

UNITED  STATES. 


BY 


A.   L.   STIMSON. 


(SECOND  EDITION.) 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


NEW  YORK: 

FOR  SALE  AT  THE  EXPRESS  OFFICES   THROUGHOUT  THE 
UNITED  STATES. 

1858. 


ft 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1858, 

BY   A.   L.    STIMSON, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  United  States  for  the 
Southern  District  of  New  York. 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


[SEC  OND      EDITION.] 

Since  issuing,  to  a  few  hundred  subscribers  among  the  Express 
and  Railroad  men,  first  edition  of  the  History  of  the  Origin  of 
Railroads,  and  the  Rise  and  Progress  of  the  Express  Business,  the 
Author  has  received  from  the  respected  widow  of  WILLIAM  F. 
HARNDEN,  (now  residing  with  her  two  sons  in  California,)  the 
likeness  of  her  late  husband,  which  will  be  found  inserted  in  the 
present  edition.  Mrs.  Harnden,  by  the  way,  (we  will  here  state, 
to  correct  an  error  in  the  account  of  Harnden's  enterprise, )  was  a 
daughter  of  John  Fuller.  The  author  avails  himself  of  this  oppor 
tunity  to  say,  also,  that  the  friends  of  Harnden  insist,  and  justly, 
perhaps,  that  the  idea  of  the  first  Express  was  entirely  original 
with  himself.  A.  L.  s. 

NEW  YORK,  October  1st.,  1858. 


193023 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


ENGRAVINGS. 

A  Likeness  of  Wm.  F.  Harnden,  the  Original  Expressman.  A 
Picture  of  the  Original  Express  Office,  in  1841.  A  Portrait  of 
Harnden's  partner,  D.  Brigham,  Jr.  An  Engraving  of  the 
Harnden  and  National  Express  Offices.  A  Portrait  of  Henry 
Wells,  President  of  the  American  Express  Company, 

PART  FIRST. 

The  origin  of  Railways,  the  decline  of  the  Staging  interest,  and 
the  starting  of  the  first  Package  Express  in  America,  by  Wil 
liam  F.  Harnden. 


PART  SECOND.    \ 

Biographyof  Harnden.  Remarkable  experience.  Henry  Wells's 
first  idea  of  the  Western  Express  business,  now  done  by  the 
American  Express  Co.  Melancholy  death  of  Adolphus  Harnden, 
the  Express  messenger  —  the  first  life  lost  in  the  Express  service  ! 
A  thrilling  narrative  of  the  burning  of  the  Steamer  Lexington,  on 
Long  Island  Sound,  in  which  121  persons  miserably  perished! 
Novel  way  of  expressing  goods.  Interesting  correspondence  by 


vi  CONTENTS. 

Wm.  F.  Harnden.  Harnden  &  Go's  operations  in  Europe.  De 
cease  of  Wm.  F.  Harnden.  Summary  of  the  results  of  his  en 
terprises.  Some  account  of  the  office  and  men,  No.  74  Broadway. 

PART  THIRD.      ^-<\0 

Rise  and  progress  of  the  first  opposition  Express  —  Adams  &  Co. 
Life  of  Alvin  Adams  —  the  remarkable  career  of  a  Green  Moun 
tain  boy.  Carried  his  express  in  his  hat!  "  Great  oaks  from  lit 
tle  acorns  grow."  Success  of  Adams.  Wm.  B.  Dinsmore  be 
comes  his  partner.  Their  enterprises.  Honorable  mention  of  a 
tip-top  Driver.  Some  account  of  John  Hoey,  the  office  lad,  now 
Superintendent  at  59  Broadway.  Messrs.  Sandford  and  Shoe 
maker's  enterprises,  arid  their  association  with  Adams  &  Co. 
Allusion  to  faithful  Messengers,  &c.  Stimson  &  Go's  New  Or 
leans  Express.  Hoey  &  Co.  Curious  facts  concerning  the  Cali 
fornia  Express  business.  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.  succeed  to  it. 
Kinsley  &  Co's  history.  Consolidation  and  creation  of  the 
Adams  Express  Co.  Henry  B.  Plant's  operations  in  the  South. 
Vast  extension  of  the  Company's  routes.  A  tribute  to  their 
most  valuable  Agents,  Clerks,-  &c.,  past  and  present.  Rise  and 
progress  of  Freeman  &  Co's  California  Express. 


PART  FOURTH. 

Biography  of  Henry  Wells,  and  the  lesson  and  encouragement  con 
veyed  by  it  to  young  men.  His  Express  enterprises  West  of 
Albany.  Pomeroy  &  Co.,  Wells  &  Co.,  Crawford  Livingston, 
W.  G.  Fargo,  and  Livingston,  Wells  &  Co.  The  difficulties  of 
Western  transportation.  Consolidation  of  the  several  Railroads 
making  the  New  York  Central  Railroad.  Honorable  mention  of 
prominent  Railroad  men  in  New  York  State.  Overtures  made 


CONTENTS.  Vll 

to  Wells  by  the  Postmaster  General, -to  do  his  Express  business 
by  means  of  U.  S.  Mail  facilities,  rejected.  Wells  &  Go's  Letter 
Express  in  opposition  to  the  Government  monopoly.  Persecu 
tion  of  Wells  and  his  partners  and  Messengers  by  the  Postmaster 
General.  Triumph  of  the  Express,  and  reform  in  the  Postage 
Laws!  Allusion  to  opposition  Expresses.  Death  of  Crawford 

.  Livingston.  Prosperity  of  Wells  &  Co.,  and  Livingston  (Wm. 
A.)  and  Fargo.  A  new  and  formidable  opposition — Bntterfield, 
Wasson  &  Co.  Some  account  of  John  Butterfield,  now  Yice- 
President  of  the  American  Express  Co.,  and  his  various  import 
ant  interprises.  Consolidation  of  the  three  great  firms  into  the 
American  Express  Co.  Rapid  growth  and  -extension,  Westward. 
Still  another  opposition  merged.  Big  fish  swallow  the  little  ones ! 
The  Express  hero,  John  Upton — his  fortitude  and  fidelity  at 
Spuyten  Duyvil.  Tribute  to  Express  Messengers.  The  organi 
zation  of  the  American  Express  Co.,  with  a  reference  to  its  most 
zealous  and  active  men  throughout  the  vast  area  of  its  operations. 

THE  NATIONAL  EXPRESS  Go's  history,  from  its  inception  by  Major 
J.  A.  Fallen,  in  1842,  to  the  present  time.  E.  H.  Ylrgil  early 
in  the  field.  Remarkable  experiences  in  Expressing  upon  the 
Northern  route.  Singular  robbery !  Creation  of  the  joint-stock 
National  Express.  Some  account  of  D.  N.  Barney,  President  of 
the  Company;  also  President  of  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.,  and  the 
United  States  Express.  Pullen  &  Go's  Harlem  Express. 

THOMPSON  &  Go's  EXPRESS  from  Boston  to  Albany.  Biograph 
ical  notices  of  J.  M.  Thompson,  R.  L.  Johnson,  and  Wm.  N. 
Melcher.  Description  of  their  business  in  Springfield.  Memoir 
of  Genery  Twichell.  Begins  as  a  Stage-Driver  and  becomes  a 
Railroad  President.  So  much  for  force  of  character!  Mention 
of  remarkable  Railroad  Conductors ;  James  Parker  and  others. 
Impressive  incident. 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

WELLS  FARGO  &  Go's  California  Express:  its  rise  and  progress. 
Prominent  facts  in  its  brilliant  career.  Immense  results  of  its 
operations.  Some  account  of  its  Managers  and  prominent  Agents. 

THE  UNITED  STATES  EXPRESS  COMPANY  ;  its  founders  and  extensive 
service  westward.  H.  Kip,  its  Superintendent  in  the  West. 
Charles  De  Witt,  Superintendent  of  the  Eastern  Division.  The 
New  York  and  Erie  R.  R.  Express  merged  in  the  U.  S.  Express 
Co.,  August,  1858.  Important  changes. 

HOWARD  &  Go's  Express  enterprise  in  Pennsylvania.  Biography 
of  N.  G.  Howard,  one  of  the  oldest  Expressmen.  Bailey  &  How 
ard's  Express  to  Buffalo.  Its  abandonment.  The  Howard  Ex 
press  in  Philadelphia.  Its  routes,  &c.  A.  L.  Randall.  The 
American-European  Express.  Earle  &  Co.;  Hatch,  Gray  & 
Co.;  Fiske  &  Co.;  Cheney  &  Co.;  the  Eastern  Express  Co.; 
the  Manhattan  Express;  Brees  &  Co.;  Budd's  Express,  &c.,  &c. 

PART   FIFTH. 

Devoted  to  Express  and  Railroad  Anecdotes,  Express  routine,  and 
to  laws  relating  to  Express  liability  as  public  carriers. 

This  shows  the  best  manner  of  keeping  Express  accounts,  and  the 
most  approved  mode  of  conducting  the  Express  business;  what 
blanks  and  forms  of  receipts  and  books  are  preferred;  and,  in 
short,  it  will  convey  a  great  deal  of  useful  instruction  to  new  be 
ginners. 

The  principal  robberies  of  the  Express  are  reported  in  this  book, 
and  many  other  things  of  deep  interest. 


R^jg^ 

OF   THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


PREFACE. 

IN  the  following  work  the  author  proposes  to  treat  of 
the  origin  of  Railroads  in  this  country,  and  the  decline 
and  fall  of  the  Stage-Coach  lines;  but  his  main  object  is 
an  exposition  of  the  rise  and  progress  of  the  Express 
Interest. 

The  growth  of  the  Express  service  has  been  compared 
to  that  of  "a  mushroom  over  night;"  and,  considering 
the  present  extent,  magnitude,  and  ubiquitous  operation 
of  the  business,  it  certainly  is  a  matter  for  astonishment 
that  its  origin  should  date  back  less  than  twenty  years. 

From  the  recentness  of  the  institution,  and  the  simple 
process  by  which  it  has  attained  to  an  importance  second 
only  to  that  of  railroads,  there  has  been  little  inducement 
to  prepare  for  the  press  any  thing  like  a  full  and  accurate 
history  of  the  causes  which  led  to  its  establishment,  and 
the  men  and  methods  by  which  it  has  become  what  it  is. 

The  facts,  however,  even  if  regarded  only  in  a  light 
purely  utilitarian,  are  well  worthy  of  being  put  upon 
record  for  future  reference ;  and  it  would  be  unwise  to 
defer  the  task  until  those  shall  have  passed  away  who, 
having  nursed  and  tended  the  business  in  its  infancy,  are 
the  best  sources  of  information  relative  to  its  early  history. 

But  apart  from  those  useful  facts,  the  Express  ex 
perience  has  had  its  share  of  novel  and  interesting  charac 
teristics,  and  is  still  marked  by  peculiarities  the  description 
of  which  will  repay  the  perusal.  That  it  redounds  greatly 
to  the  credit  of  American  enterprise,  who  can  deny  ? 


IV  PREFACE. 

NOY  is  it  entirely  a  work  of  supererogation  to  devote  a 
few  pages  to  reminiscences  of  a  class  of  carriers  who, 
prior  to  the  creation  of  railroads  and  expresses,  served 
the  public  faithfully  in  a  similar  capacity.  The  Stage- 
Coach  proprietors,  drivers,  and  agents,  and  the  keepers  of 
travellers'  hotels  and  way-side  inns,  who  found  their 
occupation  gone  when  the  railroads  came  into  use,  were 
not  without  a  multitude  of  sympathizers  at  the  time,  but, 
nevertheless,  there  is  nowhere  to  be  found  any  record 
whatever  to  remind  us  of  the  last  days  of  a  business, 
once  the  pride  of  the  world,  and  for  centuries  coexten 
sive  with  civilization  itself.  The  present  work  aims  to 
remedy,  in  some  degree,  that  oversight. 

A  kindred  topic  considered  (without  which  no  history 
of  the  Express  service  would  be  complete)  is  the  origin  of 
Railroads,  with  some  account  of  those  in  operation  in 
America  before  the  establishment  of  the  parcel  and  pack 
age  express.  The  author  has  taken  some  pains,  therefore, 
to  give  the  dates  of  the  incorporation  of  all  the  important 
Railroads  in  the  United  States,  together  with  some  facts 
concerning  their  foundation  and  management. 

Such  of  them  as  are  in  Massachusetts  were  for  the 
most  part  constructed  before  Harnden's  enterprise  was 
known ;  hence  we  have  preceded  our  account  of  his 
Express  in  this,  the  initial  number  of  the  serial  history, 
by  some  useful  facts  relative  to  the  origin  of  Railroads  in 
that  State.  In  future  parts  of  this  work,  the  author  will 
endeavor  to  do  justice  to  the  pioneer  railroads  in  other 
sections  of  the  country. 

NEW  YORK,  March,  1858. 


HISTORY  OP  THE  EXPRESS  BUSINESS. 


THE   ORIGIN  OF   RAILWAYS,  THE  DECLINE   OF   THE    STAGING 

INTEREST,  AND  THE  RISE  AND  PROGRESS  OF  HARNDEN'S 

EXPRESS  ENTERPRISE. 

IN  giving  a  history  of  the  origin  and  rise  of  the 
Express  Business,  it  will  be  proper,  as  well  as 
philosophical,  to  consider,  first,  the  causes.  Wm.  F. 
Harnden  was  not  responsible  for  these.  To  him  be 
longs  the  credit  of  recognizing  a  public  want  before 
the  public  had  any  definite  idea  of  what  the  want 
was ;  and  not  merely  recognizing  it,  but  going  prac 
tically  and  with  characteristic  energy  to  work  to 
supply  it.  We  propose  to  render  in  this  book  a 
minute  and  accurate  record  of  his  enterprise,  not 
merely  in  justice  to  his  memory,  as  the  beginner 
and  earliest  practical  worker  of  an  institution  which, 
for  rapid  growth  and  business  importance,  is  with 
out  a  parallel,  but  because  the  facts  are  of  interest  to 
the  public,  and  deserve  a  place  in  the  commercial 
history  of  our  age.  Nor  would  it  be  proper  to 
limit  our  narrative  to  the  enterprises  of  Harnden, 


b  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

alone.  When  he  had  justified  the  feasibility  of  his 
project  by  its  success,  the  motive  power  of  "  competi 
tion  "  was  superadded  to  his  previous  stimulus,  by 
the  creation  of  one  rival  express  after  another,  until 
the  whole  land  was  literally  lined  with  them.  We 
shall  attempt  to  do  justice  to  them  all,  in  due 
course. 

But,  for  some  years  anterior  to  any  of  these  en 
terprises,  there  had  been  certain  causes  at  work, 
and,  the  better  to  appreciate  the  nature  and  force  of 
them,  we  must  indulge  in  a  retrospective  glance  at 
the  last  days  of  the  old-fashioned  Stage-Coach  busi 
ness,  and  the  advent  of  Railroads  and  Steamships. 
And  first,  let  us  take  a  long  look  back  to  the  stage 
coach  service.  It  existed  for  several  centuries,  and 
for  fifty  or  sixty  years  prior  to  the  construction  of 
the  first  railroad,  it  was  regarded  as  a  "crack"  in 
stitution,  worthy  of  illustration  by  the  best  artists. 
A  highly  spirited  picture,  usually  a  colored  engrav 
ing,  representing  the  London  Mail  Coach,  crowded 
with  passengers,  inside  and  out,  and  drawn  by  four 
or  six  fiae  horses,  dashing  over  the  highway  at  a 
spanking  rate,  was  considered  as  worthy  of  a  place 
in  gentlemen's  houses  in  England,  any  time  during 
the  first  half  of  the  present  century.  The  taste  and 
skill  of  good  artists  were  tasked  to  depict  "  the 
team "  in  every  possible  situation, — in  the  act  of 
changing  for  relays ;  or  pawing  the  ground  at  the 
starting  place,  snuffing  eagerly  the  morning  air,  and 
impatient  to  be  off;  or  in  the  more  unfortunate  fix 
of  an  overturn,  or  break-down.  In  all  these  various 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  7 

engravings,  many  of  which  are  still  extant,  in  this 
country  as  well  as  abroad,  both  coach  and  horses  are 
always  represented-  as  fine-looking  and  creditable  to 
the  institution.  Probably  the  Americans,  as  a  peo 
ple,  have  never  felt  half  that  love  and  admiration 
for  horse  flesh  which  have  been  .characteristic  of  the 
men  and  women  of  old  England,  but  it  is  due  to  the 
proprietors  of  stage  lines  in  the  United  States,  and 
more  especially  in  New  England,  during  twenty 
years  or  more,  prior  to  the  origin  of  railroads,  to 
record  that  the  change  which  followed  that  era  in 
the  transportation  of  passengers,  was  in  no  degree 
owing  to  any  inferiority  of  their  teams  to  the  Eng 
lish.  Their  animals  were  the  best  that  could  be  pro 
cured  for  the  purpose,  and  their  coaches  (we  speas 
from  personal  knowledge  of  those  then  used  in 
Massachusetts)  handsome  and  costly.  That  they 
were  numerous  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that, 
in  1829,  there  were  77  lines  starting  from  Boston. 
In  1832  the  number  had  increased  to  106,  and  they 
were  all  driving  a  flourishing  business  at  that  time, 
and  continued  to  do  several  years  longer ;  for  though 
the  railway  system  was  projected  in  Massachusetts 
in  1830,  it  was  not  in  operation  until  1834.  For 
list  of  stage  lines  we  refer  the  curious  to  the  Mas 
sachusetts  Register  of  that  period ;  also  Badger  & 
Porter's*  Stage  Register,  1830-5. 

An   important    person   was  the  stage-driver  in 
those  days,  when  locomotives  were  a  class  of  mon- 

*  They  were  publishers  of  the  Boston  Traveller      Porter  was  a  brother  to 
the  Editor  of  the  Spirit  of  the  Times. 


8  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

sters  as  yet  unknown,  and  the  free  earth  had  not 
felt  the  iron  shackles  of  the  railway.  Commonly  a 
portly,  florid-faced  man,  with  -an  air  of  authority 
that  was  most  impressive,  as  he  sat  upon  his  box 
grasping  the  reins  of  his  four  or  six-in-hand,  he  was 
looked  up  to  by  all  sorts  of  people.  As  a  celebrity, 
he  certainly  ranked  as  high  as  the  Squire,  or  even 
as  the  minister ;  and  this  is  saying  not  a  little,  for 
hardly  a  quarter  of  a  century  has  passed  since  cler 
gymen  were  reverenced  full  as  much  as  the  magis 
trates.  That  was  before  locomotives  had  been 
dreamed  of;  and  post-roads  and  turnpikes  were 
thought,  by  the  great  body  of  the  people,  to  be  fast 
enough.  Had  it  been  said  to  that  corpulent  com 
modore-like  man,  with  the  whip,  reins  and  fate  of 
fifteen  passengers  in  his  hands,  that  two  parallel  iron 
rails  and  a  tea-kettle  on  wheels  would,  at  some  future 
day,  dethrone  him  from  his  imperial  position,  and 
render  staging  not  only  unfashionable,  but  almost 
obsolete,  he  would  have  stared  in  astonishment,  or 
smiled  in  pity,  upon  the  speaker,  as  either  a  fool  or 
a  madman.  The  stage-coach  he  regarded  as  indis 
pensable  as  we  now  think  the  railroad  and  express. 
In  addition  to  the  conveyance  of  passengers,  the 
driver  had  a  multitude  of  other  duties  to  perform 
upon  his  route.  There  were  messages  to  deliver, 
notes  and  bills  to  pay  or  collect,  and  nice  articles  to 
purchase,  beside  the  business  (more  important  than 
all  the  rest)  of  delivering  to  banks  and  brokers 
packages  of  money  for  redemption,  deposit,  or  ex 
change.  Some  of  the  old  stage-drivers,  on  this 


EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

account,  aver  roundly  that  they  were  themselves  the 
original  expressmen ;  but,  however  similar  their  ser 
vice,  it  was  never  known  by  the  name  of  express 
business,  and  was  no  more  entitled  to  be  called  so 
than  were  the  labors  of  the  baggage-wagoners. 

The  profits  of  the  errand  business  was,  we  be 
lieve,  the  drivers'  perquisites.  Many  of  these  per 
sons  were  possessed  of  some  property,  and  were 
what  is  called  "well-to-do  in  the  world."  They 
were,  in  numerous  instances,  either  sole  or  part 
owners  of  their  vehicles.  They  had  no  system  in 
their  errand  and  parcel  business :  it  was  all  in  their 
heads,  and  their  hats.  A  stage-driver's  hat— even 
in  those  days  when  the  monstrous  "bell  crown" 
was  the  fashion — was  usually  filled  with  letters  and 
parcels.  Some  of  them  aver  that  they  became  pre 
maturely  bald  in  consequence. 

We  confess  to  an  amiable  curiosity  to  know 
what  has  become  of  all  the  good  fellows  who  used 
to  be  connected,  either  as  proprietors,  drivers,  or 
agents,  with  these  lines,  but  we  cannot  hope  to  have 
it  in  our  power  to  refer  personally  to  more  than  a 
very  few  of  them.  Yet  it  is  our  purpose  to  make 
mention  of  many  of  those,  who,  before  they  were 
crowded  out  by  the  railroads,  were  the  most  useful 
and  highly  valued  servants  of  the  public,  on  the 
routes  now  used  by  the  express  companies  through 
out  the  country. 

Perhaps  we  shall  be  permitted  to  jot  down  in 
this  place  a  few  memoranda  which  we  have  gleaned 
from  the  old  files  of  the  Boston  Directory,  through 


EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

the  politeness  of  its  enterprising  and  indefatigable 
proprietor,  Mr.  George  Adams,  and  from  some  of 
the  earlier  volumes  of  the  Daily  Evening  Transcript 
—the  latter  invaluable  journal  dating  back  as  far  as 
the  summer  of  1830,  when  it  was  established  by 
Lynde  M.  Walter,  and  Dutton  &  Went  worth. 

In  1829,  just  ten  years  prior  to  Harnden's  enter 
prise,  "  the  Albany  coach,  via  Troy  and  Greenfield, 
and  Boston  Union  Centre  Line,"  used  to  leave  Bos 
ton  on  Tuesday,  Thursday,  and  Saturday,  and  arrive 
in  Albany  on  the  third  day  to  dine.  Distance  160 
"  miles ;  fare  $6  00. 

The  "Mail  Line"  to  Albany,  via  Northampton, 
left  on  Monday,  Wednesday,  and  Friday,  and  arrived 
in  Albany  next  day  at  7  P.  M.  Distance  169  miles; 
fare  to  Northampton,  $4  50 ;  to  Albany,  $8  75. 

The  extra  fare  by  the  Mail,  is  to  be  ascribed  of 
course  to  the  superior  speed  of  that  line. 

An  "  Accommodation  Line,''  arriving  in  Albany 
on  the  third  day,  charged  a  fare  of  $7  00. 

Another,  foreshadowing  the  Express  perhaps, 
used  to  beat  the  mail  by  an  hour:  fare  $8  75. 

There  were  two  or  three  other  lines  from  Boston 
to  Albany.  The  stage  fare  to  Worcester  in  those 
days  was  two  dollars.  It  was  currently  believed, 
that  if  there  should  ever  be  a  railroad  on  that  route, 
the  fare  would  not  exceed  fifty  cents, 

".The  Boston  and  New  York  Mail  Coach"  left 
daily  at  1  p.  M.  ;  arrived  at  Hartford  next  morning 
at  6,  in  New  Haven  at  2  p.  M.,  and  in  New  York  at  6 
p.  M.,  second  day. 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  11 

The  fare  from  Boston  to  Concord,  New  Hamp 
shire,  was  $3  00 ;  to  Portland,  Maine,  it  was  $8  00. 

"The  Boston  and  Providence  Citizens'  Stages," 
used  to  leave  the  Marlboro  Hotel  at  5  A.  M.  daily, 
"to  meet  the  Providence  boats ;  "  fare  $2  50. 

In  1830,  (the  year  in  which  the  Boston  and  Low 
ell  Railroad  was  chartered,)  there  was  a  line  of 
Boston,  Lowell,  and  Nashua  stages,  which  left  the 
Marlboro  Hotel  daily,  at  7  A.  M.,  for  Amherst,  New 
Hampshire;  Windsor,  Royalton,  and  Burlington, 
Vermont ;  Montreal  and  Quebec.  Four  years  after 
wards,  we  find  E.  W.  Lawrence  advertising,  at  Low 
ell,  the  "North  Star  Line  of  Stages,"  from  Boston, 
to  Keene,  New  Hampshire 

The  "Package  Express"  of  modern  times  was 
unknown  until  Harnden  started  it,  but  special  ex 
presses  for  the  transmission  of  important  private  or 
public  intelligence  have  been  in  use,  occasionally,  for 
hundreds  of  years  past.  These  expresses  were 
usually  conveyed  upon  fleet  horses,  with  frequent  re 
lays  at  intervals  upon  the  route.  Life  and  death  of 
ten  depended  upon  their  speed,  and  not  a  few  illus 
trious  political  offenders  have  had  to  thank  the  riders 
for  their  timely  relief  from  the  edge  of  the  axe,  or 
the  pressure  of  the  rope.  Even  whole  cities,  when 
about  to  yield  to  besieging  armies,  have  been  saved 
by  these  expresses.  A  case  of  this  sort  was  that  al 
luded  to  by  Browning,  in  his  fine  poem  of  "  jffoiv 
they  brought  the  good  news  from  Ghent  to  Aix" 

As  it  presents  a  graphic  picture  of  the  Express 
Rider,  and  reminds  us  of  some  similar  equestrianism 


12  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

by  Express  messengers  in  California,  it  will  not  be 
inappropriate  to  insert  it  here. 


I  sprang  to  the  stirrup,  and  Joris,  and  he  ; 

I  galloped,  Dirck  galloped,  we  galloped  all  three ; 

"  Good  speed  !"  cried  the  watch,  as  the  gate  bolts  undrew ; 

"  Speed  !"  echoed  the  wall  to  us  galloping  through; 

Behind  shut  the  postern,  the  lights  sank  to  rest, 

And  into  the  midnight  we  galloped  abreast. 


ii. 

Not  a  word  to  each  other ;  we  kept  the  great  pace, 
Neck  by  neck,  stride  by  stride,  never  changing  our  place ; 
I  turned  in  my  saddle  and  made  the  girths  tight, 
Then  shortened  each  stirrup,  and  set  the  pique  right, 
Rebuckled  tlie  cheek-strap,  chained  slacker  the  bit, 
Nor  galloped  less  steadily  Roland  a  whit. 

in. 

'Twas  moonset  at  starting ;  but  while  we  drew  near 

Lokeren,  the  cocks  crew  and  twilight  dawned  clear ; 

At  Boom,  a  great  yellow  star  came  out  to  see ; 

At  Diiffeld  'twas  morning  as  plain  as  could  be; 

And  from  Mecheln  church-steeple  we  heard  the  half-chime, 

So  Joris  broke  silence  with,  "  Yet  there  is  time  !" 

IV. 

At  Aerschot,  up  leaped  of  a  sudden  the  sun, 
And  against  him  the  cattle  stood  black  every  one, 
To  stare  thro'  the  mist  at  us  galloping  past, 
And  I  saw  my  stout  galloper  Roland  at  last, 
With  resolute  shoulders,  each  butting  away 
The  haze,  as  some  bluff  river  headland  its  spray. 

v. 

And  his  low  head  and  crest,  just  one  sharp  ear  bent  back 
For  my  voice,  and  the  other  pricked  out  on  his  track  ; 
And  one  eye's  black  intelligence, — ever  that  glance 
O'er  its  white  edge  at  me,  his  own  master  askance  ! 
And  the  thick,  heavy  spume-flakes  which  aye  and  anon 
His  fierce  lips  shook  upwards  in  galloping  on. 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  13 


Tl. 


By  Hasselt  Dirck  groaned;   and  cried  Joris,  "  Stay  spur  ! 
Your  Roos  galloped  bravely,  the  fault's  not  in  her, 
We'll  remember  at  Aix" — for  one  heard  the  quick  wheeze 
Of  her  chest,  saw  the  stretched  neck  and  staggering  knees, 
And  sunk  tail,  and  horrible  heave  of  the  flank, 
As  down  on  her  haunches  she  shuddered  and  sank. 


VII. 

So  we  were  left  galloping,  Joris  and  I, 

Past  Looz  and  past  Tongres,  no  cloud  in  the  sky  ; 

The  broad  sun  above  laughed  a  pitiless  laugh ; 

'Neath  our  feet  broke  the  brittle,  bright  stubble  like  chaff ; 

Till  over  by  Dalhem  a  dome-spire  sprang  white, 

And  "  Gallop,"  gasped  Joris,  "  for  Aix  is  in  sight !" 

VIII. 

"  How  they'll  greet  us  !" — and  all  in  a  moment  his  roan 
Rolled  neck  and  croup  over,  lay  dead  as  a  stone, 
And  there  was  my  Roland  to  bear  the  whole  weight 
Of  the  news  which  could  save  Aix  from  her  fate, 
With  his  nostrils  like  pits  full  of  blood  to  the  brim, 
And  with  circles  of  red  for  his  eye-sockets'  rim. 

IX. 

Then  I  cast  loose  my  buff-coat,  each  holster  let  fall, 

Shook  off  both  my  jack  boots,  let  go  belt  and  all, 

Stood  up  in  the  stirrup,  leaned,  patted  his  ear, 

Called  my  Roland  his  pet  name,  my  horse  without  peer ; 

Clapped  my  hands,  laughed  and  sang,  any  noise,  bad  or  good, 

Till  at  length  into  Aix  Roland  galloped  and  stood. 

x. 

And  all  I  remember  is,  friends  flocking  round 
As  I  sat  with  his  head  twixt  my  knees  on  the  ground. 
And  no  voice  but  was  praising  this  Roland  of  mine, 
As  I  poured  down  his  throat  our  last  measure  of  wine, 
Which  (the  burgesses  voted,  by  common  consent,) 
Was  no  more  than  his  due  who  brought  good  news  from 
Ghent. 


14  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

Special  Expresses,  for  the  conveyance  of  impor 
tant  public  news  were  sometimes  employed  by  the 
enterprising  New  York  Press.  In  the  Boston  Daily 
Eve.  Transcript  of  Dec.  11, 1830,  we  find  the  follow 
ing  paragraph,  by  Lynde  M.  Walter,  the  editor. 

u  PRESIDENT'S  MESSAGE. — Some  little  idea  of  the 
opposition  that  exists  amongst  New  York  Editors 
may  be  formed,  when  we  mention  that  so  great  was  the 
anxiety  to  get  the  start  of  each  other,  and  have  the 
credit  of  being  out  first,  that  three  Expresses  were  em 
ployed  by  the  printers  of  that  city.  The  Courier 
and  Enquirer  engaged  one  to  bring  on  President 
Jackson's  Message  to  them  only ;  the  Journal  of 
Commerce  received  it  by  special  express ;  and  other 
papers  had  a  third  in  common  to  them  all.  The 
Courier  and  Enquirer,  speaking  of  it  says,  "  It  was 
delivered  yesterday  at  12  o'clock,  and  conveyed  from 
thence  to  Baltimore  by  Express.  From  Baltimore 
to  Philadelphia  by  steamboat;  and  from  Philadel 
phia  to  this  city  by  our  Express  in  six  hours  and 
twelve  minutes,  notwithstanding  the  bad  situation  of 
the  roads.  We  would  have  been  able  to  lay  it  be 
fore  our  readers  at  an  earlier  hour  had  not  our  Ex 
press  between  Baltimore  and  Washington  lost  all  his 
copies.  As  it  is  we  have  incurred  an  expense  of 
nearly  three  hundred  dollars." 

It  is,  perhaps,  needless  to  say,  that  railroads  not 
being  in  use  at  that  time  these  news  expresses  were 
conveyed  upon  fast  horses;  the  relays  being  fre 
quent.  The  example  of  the  New  York  Editors  was 
afterwards  imitated  in  Boston,  by  Richard  Haugh- 
ton  of  the  Atlas,  and  others. 

We  now  come  to  a  consideration  of  the  origin  of 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  15 

an  institution,  but  for  which  such  an  establishment 
as  a  package  Express  Office  might  never  have  been 
known.  We  allude,  of  course,  to  the  RAILWAY. 

In  Judge  Redfield's  very  valuable  u  Practical 
Treatise  upon  the  Law  of  Railroads"  he  states  the 
following  facts  by  way  of  introduction  :  u  Although 
some  of  the  Roman  roads,  like  the  Appian  Way, 
were  a  somewhat  near  approach  to  the  modern  rail 
way,  being  formed  into  a  continuous  plane  surface, 
by  means  of  blocks  of  stone  closely  fitted  together, 
yet  they  were,  in  the  principle  of  construction  and 
operation,  essentially  different  from  railways.  The 
idea  of  a  distinct  track  for  the  wheels  of  carriages, 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  reduced  to  practice  un 
til  late  in  the  seventeenth  century.  In  1676  some 
account  is  given  of  the  transportation  of  coals  near 
Newcastle  upon  the  river  Tyne,  upon  a  very  imper 
fect  railway,  by  means  of  rude  carriages,  whose 
wheels  run  upon  some  kind  of  rails  of  timber. 
About  100  years  afterwards,  an  iron  railway  is  said 
to  have  been  constructed,  and  put  into  operation 
at  the  colliery  near  Sheffield.  From  this  time  they 
were  put  into  very  extensive  use  for  conveying  coal, 
stone,  and  other  like  substances,  short  distances,  in 
order  to  reach  navigable  waters,  and  sometimes  near 
the  cities  where  large  quantities  of  stone  were  need 
ed  for  building  purposes. 

"These  railways,  built  chiefly  by  the  owners  of  i 
coal  mines  and  stone  quarries,  either  upon  their  own 
land,  or  by   special  license,  called   way-leave,  upon 
the  land  of  others,  had  become  numerous  long  before 


16  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

the  application  of  steam  power  to  railway  transpor 
tation. 

"  Some  few  questions  in  regard  to  these  railways, 
or  tram-ways,  at  common  law,  have  arisen  in  the 
English  courts. 

UA11  railways,  or  similar  corporations,  in  this  coun 
try,  exist,  or  are  presumed  to  have  originally  exist 
ed,  by  means  of  an  express  grant  from  the  legislative 
power  of  the  State,  or  sovereignty. 

"  The  first  use  of  locomotive  engines  upon  railways 
for  general  transportation,  does  not  date  further  back 
than  October,  1829 ;  and  all  the  railways  in  this 
country,  with  one  or  two  exceptions,  have  been  built 
since  that  date." 

"  The  celebrated  trial  of  locomotive  engines,  up 
on  the  Liverpool  and  Manchester  Railway,"  (says 
Judge  Redfield,  in  a  concluding  note,)  for  the  pur 
pose  of  determining  the  relative  advantage  of  sta 
tionary  and  locomotive  power  upon  such  roads,  and 
which  resulted  in  favor  of  the  latter,  was  had  in  Oc 
tober,  1829." 

Another  authority,  viz.  two  large  volumes  de 
voted  to  the  Railroad  laws  of  New  England,  gives  us 
the  data  of  all  the  railway  enterprises  of  Massachu 
setts,  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Vermont,  Connecticut, 
and  Rhode  Island, 

The  earliest  use  of  the  railway  principle,  in  Amer 
ica,  was  by  the  "  Quincy  Granite  Railway  Company.11 
(Thos.  H.  Perkins,  Wra.  Sullivan,  Amos  Lawrence, 
David  Moody,  Solomon  Willard,  Gridley  Bryant, 
u  and  their  associates,")  who  were  chartered  by  the 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  17 

legislature  of  Massachusetts,  March  4,  1826.  Their 
capital  was  $100,000,  and  their  privilege  was  "the 
conveyance  of  stone  and  other  property."  By  an  act 
passed  April,  1846,  they  were  authorized  to  trans 
port  passengers  between  Boston  and  Qmncy,  but 
they  did  not  avail  themselves  of  this  liberty. 

In  June,  1828,  the  legislature  of  Rhode  Island 
authorized  Massachusetts,  or  a>ny  company  within 
that  State,  to  extend  to  the  city  of  Providence,  any 
railroad  which,  during  the  next  six  years,  it  might 
build  to  the  contiguous  boundary. 

In  1829,  Massachusetts  incorporated  "the  Wor 
cester  Railroad"  (S.  B.  Thomas,  Wm.  E.  Green,  A. 
J.  Allen,  and  others,  capital  $5 0,0 00,}  but  the  terms 
not  being  complied  with  in  the  stipulated  time,  the 
charter  was  annulled. 

In  the  same  State,  the  same  year,  Francis  J".  Oli 
ver,  Wm.  Goddard,  Nathl  Hammond,  u  and  their 
associates,"  were  incorporated  as  the  Franklin  Rail 
road  Company  j  but  the  road  was  never  built. 

In  1830,  H.  G.  Otis,  Jos.  Cooledge,  Israel  Thorn- 
dike,  Wm.  Prescott,  F.  J.  Oliver,  and  Phineas  Upha  m, 
were  incorporated  as  the  "  Massachusetts  Railroad 
Corporation"  to  construct  a  railroad  from  Boston 
to  Albany  or  Troy.  Its  capital  was  not  to  exceed 
three  and  a  half  millions,  and  its  charter  was  to  be 
avoided  if  5,000  shares  of  the  stock  were  not  taken, 
and  one-third  of  the  road  located  prior  to  1831. 
We  believe  that  the  contemplated  enterprise  was 
never  begun. 

The  "JSostoiit  Providence,  and  Taunton  Railroad 
2 


18  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

Company''  (F.  Tudor,  R.  D.  Tucker,  John  S.  Boies, 
T.  B.  Wales,  L.  Foster,  and  Wm.  Foster,)  were  in 
corporated  March  12th,  1830.  The  charter  was  to 
be  avoided  if  the  stock  should  not  have  been  sub 
scribed  for  by  January  1st,  1831,  or  the  road  com 
pleted  as  early  as  1835.  This,  we  believe,  failed 
to  go  into  effect. 

The  "Boston  and  Lowell  Railroad  Company" 
was  chartered  in  the  winter  of  1830  :  original  capi 
tal  $500,000.  The  founders  were  John  F.  Loring, 
Lemuel  Pope,  Isaac  P.  Davis,  Kirk  Boott,  Patrick 
T.  Jackson,  G.  W.  Lyman,  and  D.  P.  Parker. 

In  1831,  Massachusetts  incorporated  the  West 
Stockbridge  Railroad  Company,  which  charter  was 
merged,  in  1840,  in  that  of  the  "  Hudson  and  Berk 
shire  Railroad  Company." 

In  June,  1831,  the  "  Boston  and  Providence  Rail 
road  Co."  was  chartered  by  the  Legislatures  of  Massa 
chusetts  and  Rhode  Island.  John  Bryant,  Jos.  W. 
Revere,  Geo.  Halle tt,  and  B.  R.  Nichols  were  the 
petitioners  in  Massachusetts,  and  Sam.  Whittemore, 
John  F.  Gray,  R.  P.  Bell,  and  Jos.  Goddard  in 
Rhode  Island. 

June,  1831,  Massachusetts  incorporated  the  Bos 
ton  and  Taunton  Railroad  Company  ;  (Cyrus  Alger, 
Israel  Thorndike,  T.  H.  Perkins,  David  Sears,  Sol. 
Willard,  Nathan  Hale,  Wm.  Prescott,  Sam.  A.  Elliot, 
J.  K.  Mills,  A.  Atkinson,  Wm.  Rollins,  Sam.  Crock 
er,  Charles  Richmond,  and  Edmund  Dwight.)  Cap 
ital  $1,000,000.  The  time  given  for  the  comple 
tion  was  extended  from  1836  to  1837. 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  19 

In  the  same  year,  in  June,  Wm.  Sturgis,  Amos 
Birney,  Henry  Williams,  Geo.  Bond,  Jos.  T.  Buck 
ingham,  and  others  were  incorporated  as  the  Boston 
and  Ontario  Railroad  Company ;  the  road  to  begin 
at  Lowell,  and  extend  to  northwest  or  westerly  line 
of  the  State. 

The  present  Boston  and  Worcester  Railroad 
Company  was  projected  as  early  as  the  summer  of 
1830. 

In  the  Boston  Courier  of  January  12th,  1831, 
we  find  the  following  paragraph : 

RAILROAD  MEETING. — A  meeting  of  the  friends 
of  a  railroad  was  held  at  the  old  Common  Council 
Room  last  evening.  Elijah  Morse  officiated  as 
Chairman,  and  Andrew  J.  Allen  as  Secretary.  A 
committee  consisting  of  Richard  Fletcher,  Henry 
Williams,  Eliphalet  Williams,  Geo.  Bond,  and  Amos 
Binney,  were  appointed  to  aid  the  Committee  of  the 
Common  Council  to  procure  an  act  empowering 
the  city  to  subscribe  a  million  of  dollars  for  railroad 
stock,  as  prayed  for  by  the  meeting  of  citizens  held 
last  summer  in  Faneuil Hall" 

This  resulted  successfully,  and  the  Company  was 
chartered  June  23d,  1831.  It  was  the  first  passen 
ger  railroad  actually  in  operation  in  New  England, 
and  Wm.  F.  Harnden  was  conductor  of  the  first 
train  ever  run.  It  was  in  the  spring  of  1834.  The 
"Boston  and  Lowell"  did  not  go  into  operation 
until  a  year  subsequently,  when  it  was  finished. 
The  opening  of  the  "Boston  and  Worcester"  was 
the  occasion  of  much  interest  and  enthusiasm  in  the 
former  city. 


20  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

In  the  Boston  Daily  Advertiser,  of  April  9th, 
1834,  there  occurred  the  annexed  notice  of  the 
commencement  of  passenger  travel  upon  it  as  far  as 
Newton ;  only  about  one  quarter  of  the  entire  dis 
tance  (which  is  44  miles)  being  then  completed. 

"  Boston  and  Worcester  Railroad. — The  Direc 
tors  yesterday  invited  about  a  hundred  and  fifty  gen 
tlemen  to  make  an  excursion  on  the  road  to  Newton. 
They  started  at  twenty  minutes  past  4  o'clock,  in 
eight  passenger  cars.  After  proceeding  a  short  dis- 
ance,  their  progress  was  interrupted  by  the  breaking 
of  a  connecting  rod,  between  two  of  the  cars.  This 
accident  caused  a  considerable  delay,  in  conse 
quence  of  the  want  of  the  proper  materials  for  re 
pairing  it,  and  unfortunately  the  same  accident  oc 
curred  three  or  four  times  during  the  excursion. 
In  consequence  of  these  delays,  and  a  short  stop  at 
Newton,  for  the  purpose  of  taking  refreshment,  the 
party  did  not  arrive  at  the  depot  on  their  return 
until  twenty  minutes  past  8  o'clock.  The  cars  were 
all  used  on  this  occasion  for  the  first  time,  after 
standing  several  months,  and  they  were  in  conse 
quence  in  bad  order  for  use.  *  *  *  The  mo 
tion  also  was  much  slower  than  it  would  have  been 
had  the  cars  been  in  travelling  condition.  The 
load  was  evidently  moved  by  the  engine  with  less 
ease,  than  double  the  weight  of  earth  on  the  work 
ing  cars  heretofore  used.  *  *  *  They  will,  in 
a  few  days,  commence  running  regularly  between 
Boston  and  Newton,  two  or  three  times  a  day.  A 
second  engine  was  successfully  tried  on  the  road 
yesterday  morning." 

The  passenger  cars  employed  were  scarcely 
larger  than  the  smaller  omnibuses  now  in  use. 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  21 

The  conductor  passed  from  one  to  another  by  hang 
ing  on  to  the  outside. 

Nathan  Hale,  the  editor  of  the  Boston  Daily 
Advertiser,  was,  for  several  years,  President  of  this 
Railroad.  He  had  distinguished  himself  as  the 
friend  of  the  enterprise,  upon  its  inception,  and 
gave  the  Railroad  movement,  in  all  quarters,  not 
only  his  own  personal  co-operation,  as  far  as  was  in 
his  power,  but  devoted  a  large  space  in  his  influen 
tial  journal  to  its  advocacy  and  development, 
Eliphalet  Williams,  Amos  Binney,  and  P.  P.  F. 
Degrand,  (the  latter,  a  Frenchman,  who  had  passed 
the  most  of  his  life  in  Boston,)  were  also  very  ac 
tive  and  efficient  in  the  same  cause. 

At  this  time,  there  was  a  Boston  and  Albany 
line  of  stages  via  Fitchburg — through  in  two 
days:  Horace  Brown,,  agent,  in  Boston.  He  was 
also  agent  of  a  line  to  Albany  via  Greenfield ;  also 
of  lines  to  Bolton,  Lancaster,  Leominster,  Fitch- 
burg,  Nashua,  and  Keene.  Job  Brooks  was  agent 
of  the  Norwich  stage,  and  also  of  the  Middle  Road 
Line  to  New  York,  via  Hartford  and  New  Haven, 
and  thence  by  steamboat ;  also  of  the  steamboat 
Peacock,  the  only  boat  on  the  line  from  Norwich 
and  New  London  to  New  York :  fare  from  Boston 
to  New  York,  $8. 

Allen  &  Co.  were  agents  (1834)  of  the  steam 
boat  Chancellor  Livingston,  Captain  Carter,  to  Port 
land,  from  Boston,  (fare  $3  and  found,)  and  on  the 
route  J,  B.  Smith  was  agent  of  the  steam-packet 
MacDonough. 


22  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

The  "Boston,  Norwich,  and  New  London  R. 
R.  Company,"  was  incorporated  by  Connecticut,  in 
1832.  The  same  State  chartered,  in  May,  1832, 
the  N.  Y.  and  Stonington  R.  R.  Company. 

The  "  New  York,  Providence,  and  Boston  Rail 
road,"  chartered  by  Rhode  Island,  in  June,  1832, 
was  united,  by  act  of  Legislature,  with  the  "New 
York  and  Stonington  Railroad"  in  1833. 

[In  1832,  Massachusetts  chartered  what  was  in 
tended  to  be  the  "  Hoosac  Rail  or  McAdamized 
Road  Company,"  and  the  same  year,  the  "  New 
York  and  Berkshire  Railroad."] 

In  1833,  the  same  Legislature  incorporated  Na 
than  Hale,  David  Henshaw,  Geo.  Bond,  Henry 
Williams,  Daniel  Denny,  Joshua  Clapp,  Eliphalet 
Williams  and  others,  as  the  "  Western  Railroad  Com 
pany,"  to  build  and  use  a  Railroad  beginning  at  the 
terminus  of  the  Boston  and  Worcester  Railroad  in 
Worcester,  and  running  thence  to  the  Connecticut 
River,  thence  to  Springfield,  Massachusetts,  and  to 
Albany,  New  York.  This  was  an  enterprise  of  im 
mense  magnitude  for  a  few  individuals  to  undertake, 
and  it  received,  therefore,  assistance  from  the  State 
Treasury.  Fortunately  for  Massachusetts  and  Con 
necticut,  it  was  seasonably  completed,  and  has  been 
the  means  of  uniting  the  Eastern  States  in  an  indis 
soluble  social  and  business  union,  productive  of 
great  good  to  both  sections,  but  especially  to  the 
city  of  Boston,  where  the  enterprise  originated. 

In  1833,  Massachusetts  chartered  the  "  Andover 


EXPRESS     HISTOIIY.  23 

and  Wilmington  Railroad,"  which  was  subsequently 
merged  in  the  Maine  Railroad. 

The  "Boston  and  Providence  Railroad  and 
Transportation  Company,"  was  chartered  by  Rhode 
Island  in  1834.  The  "  Fall  River  Mill  Road,  Rail 
road  and  Ferry  Company,"  was  chartered  in  1835. 

In  May,  1833,  James  Brewster,  John  Babcock, 
John  S.  Mitchell,  and  others  were  incorporated  by 
Connecticut,  as  the  "Hartford  and  New  Haven 
Railroad  Company." 

In  the  spring  of  1834,  as  before  mentioned,  the 
Boston  and  Worcester  Railroad  was  in  partial 
operation ;  and  in  the  summer  or  fall  of  the  same 
year,  the  Boston  and  Providence  Railroad  ran  its 
passenger  trains  daily  to  Dedham,  Massachusetts. 

The  Boston  and  Lowell  Railroad  was  constructed 
at  greater  cost,  and  so  thoroughly,  that,  though  the 
work  was  pushed  with  vigor  by  William  Sturgis, 
Patrick  T.  Jackson,  and  their  associates,  it  was  not 
completed  until  May,  1835.  The  foundation  of  this 
railway  consisted  of  blocks  of  granite  embedded  in 
"rubble,"  the  entire  distance,  26  miles.  The  rails 
were  secured  to  these  stone  ties,  thus  making  a 
very  firm  and  substantial  road. 

In  the  Lowell  Courier  of  May  27th,  1835,  we 
find  the  following  notice  of  its  first  operation : 

"  LOWELL  RAILROAD. — The  first  locomotive  car 
was  put  on  to  this  road  yesterday ;  this  afternoon 
steam  power  has  been  applied,  and  the  move 
ment  of  the  machine  tried  on  short  distances.  The 
Railroad  is  completed  through  the  whole  distance, 


24  EXPRESS     HISTORY, 

and  ready  for  immediate  use.  To-morrow,  it  is  ex 
pected,  the  engine  with  one  or  two  of  the  cars  will 
go  to  Boston  and  return,  carrying  a  few  persons,  to 
test  the  operation.  Afterwards,  a  few  trips  may  be 
made  during  the  week,  but  no  regular  times  are 
yet  announced  for  departure  or  return  passage. 
Next  week,  probably,  the  cars  will  travel  regularly 
between  this  town  and  Boston,  and  become  a  part 
of  the  stage  line  connecting  the  city  with  Concord, 
N.  H.  In  connection  with  the  Railroad,  should  be 
mentioned  the  steamboat  on  Merrimac  River.  Three 
years  ago,  the  project  of  constructing  such  a  boat 
to  ply  on  the  river  above  us,  was  pronounced  a  wild 
scheme ;  and  it  was  generally  believed  that  our  en 
terprising  townsmen  who  engaged  in  it  would  meet 
with  heavy  loss.  Last  summer  the  steamboat  Her 
ald  ran  from  this  place  to  Nashua  through  the  sea 
son.  *  *  *  During  the  past  year  she  has  been 
cut  in  two  and  converted  into  a  large  boat.  The 
proprietors  intend  that  she  shall  commence  running 
the  same  day  with  the  Railroad." 

The  stone  foundation  of  this  Railway  was  not 
found  to  be  advantageous,  after  a  thorough  trial. 
There  was  no  "give"  to  it,  consequently  the  wear 
and  tear  of  the  rolling  stock  were  much  greater  than 
upon  other  railroads.  The  rails  were  taken  up  a 
few  years  ago,  and  laid  upon  the  common  wooden 
cross-ties. 

The  business  of  this  Company  became  lucrative 

almost  immediately,  arising  chiefly,  however,  from 

^he  transportation  of  immense  quantities  of  cotton, 

wool,  and  other  materials  from  Boston  to  the  mills, 

and  the  manufactured  goods  to  the  city  in  return. 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  25 

The  u  Boston  and  Old  Colony  Railroad'' was 
chartered  in  1835.  In  1836,  George  Peabody, 
Wm,  H.  Foster,  L.  Thorndike,  and  others,  were  in 
corporated  as  the  "Eastern  Railroad  Company." 

The  same  year,  the  Boston  and  Maine  Railroad 
was  opened  to  Andover,  Massachusetts,  23  miles. 

The  "Nashua  and  Lowell  Railroad  Company  " 
was  chartered  in  1836;  and  the  "Nashua  (New 
Hampshire)  and  Worcester  (Massachusetts)  Rail 
road,"  in  1839. 

In  the  latter  year,  the  Eastern  Railroad  was 
opened  for  passenger  travel  from  Boston  to  Salem, 
Massachusetts,  16  miles.  A.  Chase  was  Superin 
tendent  at  that  time.  In  1840,  it  was  opened  to 
Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire,  56  miles;  and  to 
Portland,  Maine,  107  miles,  in  1841. 

The  Boston  and  Fitchburg  Railroad  was  char 
tered  by  Massachusetts  in  1842.  This  Company, 
when  it  went  into  operation,  obtained  a  very  large 
and  profitable  business,  and  its  stock  rapidly  ad 
vanced  above  par.  Its  prosperity  was  unprece 
dented;  but  prodigal  management,  after  a  few 
years  of  good  luck,  caused  its  business  to  fall  off 
and  its  stock  to  decline  to  half  its  par  value.  Nor 
has  the  management  of  this  Railroad  improved  by 
bitter  experience ;  yet,  under  a  careful  and  sensible 
direction,  it  could  be  made  one  of  the  best  paying 
stocks  in  the  United  States.  C.  C.  Felton  was  its 
engineer,  and  its  earliest  superintendent. 

The  "Providence  and  Worcester  Railroad  Com 
pany"  was  incorporated  in  1844,  and  the  "Fall 


26  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

River  Railroad  Company  "  in  the  same  year ;  also, 
the  "Vermont  and  Massachusetts  Railroad  Com 
pany." 

The  "New  York  and  Boston  Railroad  Com 
pany  "  was  chartered  by  Connecticut  in  1846.  In 
the  same  year,  Rufus  B.  Kinsley,  and  others,  were 
incorporated  as  the  "Newport  and  Fall  River  Rail 
road  Company." 

Notwithstanding  the  projection  of  the  three 
railroads,  above  named,  in  1830,  and  their  steady 
progress  towards  completion  during  the  subsequent 
five  years,  the  old  lines  of  transportation  were  con 
tinued  with  unabated  energy  by  their  very  efficient 
and  liberal  proprietors,  as  we  well  remember,  and 
as  any  one  may  satisfy  himself  was  the  case,  by 
turning  to  the  newspapers  of  that  eventful  period. 

In  the  Boston  Daily  Evening  Transcript,  (Vol. 
I.,)  we  find  an  advertisement  of  the  "New  York 
and  Boston  Steam  Packet  Line.  To  New  York. 
Only  40  miles  Land  Carriage!'1''  Then  follow 
vignettes  of  a  steamboat  and  a  handsome  four-horse 
stage-coach,  full  of  passengers,  and  two  or  three  in 
a  seat  behind.  u  From  Providence  for  New  York 
daily,  (Sundays  excepted ;)  touching  at  Newport. 
FARE  FIVE  DOLLARS  !  "  So  it  appears  that  the  fares 
were  as  reasonable  then,  as  now.  By  this  line's 
"Arrangement  for  September,  1830,  the  Benjamin 
Franklin,  Captain  E.  S.  Bunker,  leaves  Providence, 
Sept.  1,  6,  10,  16,  21,  25,  29,  at  12  M. ;  and  New 
York,  Sept.  3,  8,  14,  18,  23,  27,  at  4  P.  M.  The 
Chancellor  Livingston,  Captain  C.  Coggeshall,  leaves 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  27 

Providence,  Sept.  2,  7,  11,  15,  19,  24,  30,  at  12  M. ; 
the  President,  Captain  R.  S.  Bunker,  leaves  Provi 
dence,  Sept.  3,  8,  14,  18,  23,  27,  at  12  M. ;  and 
New  York,  Sept.  1,  6,  10,  16,  21,  25,  29,  at  4 
P.  M. ;  the  Washington,  Captain  Comstock,  leaves 
Providence,  Sept.  4,  9,  13,  17,  22,  28,  at  12  M; 
and  New  York,  Sept.  2,  7,  11,  15,  20,  24,  30,  at  4 
P.  M.  Stages  leave  Boston  daily,  (Sundays  except- 
ed,)  at  5  A.  M.,  and  reach  the  Packets  before  their 
hour  of  starting.  Dinner  on  board /  Meals  extra. 
Dinner,  50  cents  j  Breakfast  and  Tea,  38  cents." 

In  October  following,  the  fare  was  increased  to 
$6, — and  the  land  carriage  was  stated  to  be  43 
miles. 

In  the  same  journal,  under  date  of  October  29, 
1830,  we  find  C.  B.  Wilder's  advertisement  of  aline 
to  New  York,  via  Hartford  and  New  Haven,  stages 
leaving  Boston  every  Monday,  Wednesday,  and 
Friday,  at  7  A.  M.  u  Sup  and  lodge  at  Ashford, 
and  arrive  at  Hartford  at  10  A.  M.,  next  morning, 
before  the  departure  of  the  steamboats  for  New 
York,  and  in  New  Haven  same  afternoon,  at  5 
o'clock.  Fare  reduced  to  $6.  Inquire  for  the 
Middle  Road  line  of  Stages."  ' 

Another  was  advertised,  by  the  same  Agent,  as 
the  "  Stage  and  Steam-Packet  Line,  via  Norivicli  and 
New  London.  Only  80  miles  Land-  Carriage."  The 
proprietors  of  the  Boston  and  Norwich  Line  of 
Stages,  via  Thompson,  it  appears,  had  made  an  "ar 
rangement  with  Captain  Davison,  of  the  Steamboat 
Fanny,  to  run  during  the  cold  season,"  rendering 


28  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

"the  trip  to  New  York  about  as  quick  as  by  the 
way  of  Providence."  "  Stages  leave  Boston  every 
Tuesday,  at  half-past  11  o'clock,  and  Wednesday 
and  Saturday,  at  half-past  2  A.  M ;  "  and  passengers 
took  the  boat  at  Norwich,  at  4  P.  M.  The  trip 
from  New  York  took  from  3  P.  M.  until  the  evening 
of  the  next  day.  Fare  "only  six  dollars;"  from 
Norwich  to  New  York,  $2. 

In  1834,  (April,)  the  steamer  Boston,  Captain 
Win.  Comstock,  and  steamer  Providence,  Captain 
Seth  Thayer,  were  advertised  as  having  been  put 
in  complete  order,  with  low  pressure  engines  and 
heavy  copper  boilers,  to  run  between  Providence 
and  New  York,  13  times  each  way  during  the 
month.  The  Benjamin  Franklin,  Captain  Coleman, 
an  opposition  boat,  left  Providence  three  times  a 
week  for  New  York. 

In  the  Boston  Transcript  of  May  21,  1835,  was 
the  annexed  notice  : — 

"NEW  STEAMBOAT. — A  letter,  dated  New  York, 
on  Tuesday  afternoon,  says,  l  Captain  Comstock's 
new  boat,  the  LEXINGTON,  starts  on  her  first  trip  to 
Providence,  on  Friday  morning  next,  (May  22, 
1835,)  at  4  o'clock.  She  is  intended  to  run  as  A 
DAY  BOAT,  and  will  carry  passengers  to  Boston  the 
same  day  she  leaves  New  York.  He  thinks  she  will 
run  20  miles  an  hour.' ' 

The  melancholy  fate  of  the  Lexington  is  still 
vividly  impressed  upon  the  memory  of  thousands. 
The  steam-packet  Bangor.  Captain  S.  H.  Howes, 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  29 

(I.  W.   Goodrich,  and  U.  W.  Green,  agents,)  was 
running  to  Portland. 

There  were  still  in  use  two  lines  of  stages  from 
Boston  to  Albany,  one  to  Worcester,  and  another  to 
Providence.  Stages  continued  to  run  from  Boston 
to  Amherst,  Brattleboro',  Bridgewater,  Fitchburg, 
Gloucester,  Greenfield,  Keene,  Lowell,  New  Bed 
ford,  Marblehead,  Newport,  Newburyport,  Port 
land,  Me.,  Portsmouth,  Salem,  Woonsocket,  and 
many  other  places. 

There  were  baggage-wagons  for  the  transporta 
tion  of  packages  and  merchandise,  and  the  execu 
tion  of  commissions,  between  the  same  city  and 
Beverly,  Fall  River,  Greenfield,  Hubbardstown, 
Lynn,  Methuen,  New  Bedford,  Providence,  Salem, 
South  Beading,  Taunton,  Bristol,  and  Wareham. 
All  these  were  very  serviceable. 

Upon  the  introduction  of  railroads,  a  very  audi 
ble  murmur  arose  from  a  numerous  body  of  per 
sons,  composed  mainly  of  those  interested  in  the 
staging  and  stage-tavern  business,  but  including  in 
its  ranks  very  many  old-fashioned  people,  who 
shook  their  heads  ominously  at  the  innovation,  and 
said  it  would  produce  more  harm  than  good. 
Some  did  not  hesitate  to  denounce  it  as  an  inven 
tion  of  the  devil;  others  wanted  to  know,  "What 
was  to  become  of  horse-flesh?"  and  asserted  that 
the  new  mode  of  travelling  would  so  depreciate 
the  value  of  horses  and  mules,  that  it  would  not1- 
pay  to  raise  them.  The  commentary  upon  this  is, 
that  horses  have  doubled  in  value  since  that  period ; 


30  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

and  though  many  thriving  taverns  and  villages  suf 
fered  materially  when  the  mail-stage  lines  were 
withdrawn,  many  more  new  towns  were  built  up, 
and  the  larger  cities  became  greatly  increased  in 
business  and  population.  Take  away  the  railroads 
now,  and  what  should  we  do? 

The  public  sympathy  for  the  stage-drivers  was 
universal  and  hearty.  Many  of  them  had  served  in 
that  capacity  from  youth  to  advanced  age.  Some 
had  driven  the  stage  twenty,  thirty,  yes,  forty 
years,  upon  the  same  route,  and  had  become,  as  it 
were,  ''established  institutions."  The  stage-driver 
of  the  olden  time  was  a  very  different  sort  of  a  per 
son  from  those  who  mount  the  box  in  these  degen 
erate  days.  He  had  troops  of  friends,  and  was  a 
prodigious  favorite  everywhere.  As  a  matter  of 
policy,  if  not  of  simple  justice,  the  new  companies 
made  it  a  point  to  give  employment  to,  or  in  some 
other  way  favor,  the  drivers  and  agents,  whose  lines 
their  railway  trains  had  supplanted.  Many  were 
made  railroad-conductors,  depot-masters,  and  freight- 
agents;  others  were  given  the  "freedom  of  the 
road,"  and  allowed  to  travel  without  charge — a 
privilege  which  they  turned  to  good  account. 
While  the  principal  railways  in  Massachusetts  were 
yet  in  process  of  construction,  and  passenger-trains 
were  run  over  only  a  portion  of  the  contemplated 
route,  the  stage  lines  were  not  entirely  relinquished, 
but  would  connect  with  the  different  temporary  ter 
mini  of  the  railroads,  and  piece  out  the  travel  to 
the  intended  end.  Most  of  the  drivers  doing  this 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  31 

kind  of  business,  were  partly  compensated  for  their 
constantly  diminishing  fares,  by  being  allowed  a 
pass  upon  the  encroaching  railroad.  For  instance, 
when  the  Eastern  Railroad  was  in  operation  only 
as  far  as  Salem,  Mass.,  the  stage-driver,  bringing 
passengers  from  Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  was  allowed  a 
pass  in  the  next  train  to  Boston;  also,  to  return 
free.  This  enabled  him  to  continue  his  old  errand 
business  between  the  metropolis  and  the  principal 
places  on  his  route. 

Upon  the  "Boston  and  Worcester,"  and  the 
u  Boston  and  Providence"  Railroads,  as  they  ap 
proached  completion,  this  sort  of  service  assumed 
a  different  character.  The  stage-drivers  ceased  to 
pass  in  the  cars,  and  a  portion  of  their  parcel  and 
errand  business  became  the  perquisites  of  the  con 
ductors.  The  clerks  of  the  different  lines  of  steam 
boats  plying  between  New  York  and  Stonington, 
Providence,  New  London,  and  Norwich,  were  in 
the  custom  also  of  receiving  parcels  and  orders, 
which,  without  any  record  or  method  of  any  kind, 
they  passed  over  to  the  local  Agents  of  the  steam 
ers  to  "  put  through"  when  convenient. 

Three  times  as  many  parcels,  however,  went  by 
private  hands,  without  cost.  Merchants  and  others, 
now  living,  who  used  to  travel  in  those  days  between 
New  York  and  Boston,  will  remember  how  they 
used  to  be  burdened  by  their  friends  and  acquaint 
ances  with  money  packages  and  bundles  to  deliver 
upon  their  arrival.  If  a  person  was  going  to  New 
York,  it  was  usually  known  a  week  or  two  before- 


32  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

hand,  and  his  friends  and  acquaintances  would  not 
only  send  their  own  bundles  by  him,  but  indicate 
him  to  others  as  a  man  who  would  accommodate  them 
also.  To  such  extremes  was  this  practice  carried, 
that  strangers,  even,  used  to  be  expected  to  afford  the 
like  favor,  and  had  they  declined,  it  would  have 
been  thought  as  churlish  as  for  the  passenger  near 
est  the  driver,  in  an  omnibus,  to  refuse  to  pass  anoth 
er's  fare. 

There  must  have  been  more  honesty,  and  more 
mutual  confidence  among  men,  in  that  age,  than  now 
prevail.  We  have  known  men  who  were  in  the  cus 
tom  of  sending  parcels  of  bank  notes,  drafts,  accept 
ances  and  bills  of  exchange,  between  New  York  and 
Boston — brokers,  for  instance — to  put  them  in  the 
charge  of  passengers  in  the  cars,  or  on  board  the 
steamboat,  whom  they  u  did  not  know  from  a  side 
of  sole  leather."  The  broker  would  rush  down, 
with  his  money  parcel,  to  the  "  John  W.  Richmond," 
or  the  "Norwich,"  just  as  the  last  bell  was  ringing, 
hoping  to  see  a  friend  bound  for  Boston.  Present 
ly  he  would  espy  an  acquaintance,  and  inquire  if  he 
was  going  through.  If  he  replied  in  the  negative, 
he  would  get  him  to  introduce  him  to  some  one  that 
was,  and  to  him  he  would  intrust  his  valuable  bun 
dle.  It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say,  that  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  dollars,  in  bank-notes  and  other  valua 
ble  paper,  used  to  make  the  transit  between  these 
two  cities,  every  year,  in  that  unreliable  manner. 

James  W.  Hale,  who  came  on  from  Boston,  in 
the  spring  of  1836,  and  was  employed  by  Robert  E. 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  33 

Hudson,  at  Hudson's  News  Room,  in  the  old  Ton 
tine  Building,  at  the  corner  of  Wall  and  Water 
streets,  subsequently  became  proprietor  of  that  es 
tablishment,  and  styled  it  the  "  Tontine  Reading 
Room."  He  was,  also,  agent  of  the  steamer  John 
W.  Richmond,  (the  Providence  boat,)  and  was  in  the 
habit  of  going  down  to  her,  every  day  of  her  leav 
ing,  to  transmit  newspapers,  and  a  transcript  of  the 
latest  intelligence,  from  his  bulletin  board,  to  the 
Boston  editors.  As  the  principal  brokers  were  aware 
of  this  fact,  and  knew  that  he  was  acquainted  with 
many  Boston  passengers,  scarcely  a  day  passed  that 
they  did  not  put  packets  of  bank  notes,  &c.,  into  his 
hands,  with  a  request  that  he  would  intrust  them 
•"  to  somebody  ivlio  was  going  on"  for  delivery  as  ad 
dressed. 

Everybody  knew  "  Jim  Hale  ;"  William  F. 
Harnden  among  the  rest ;  and  when  the  latter,  worn 
out  by  working  sixteen  hours  per  day  in  the  close 
confinement  of  the  B.  and  Worcester  Railroad  ticket 
office,  either  relinquished  his  situation  or  obtained  a 
short  furlough,  and  visited  New  York,  the  Tontine 
Reading  Room  was  his  favorite  place  of  call.  This 
was  either  in  the  latter  part  of  1838,  or  in  the  be 
ginning  of  1839. 

Harnden  told  Hale,  one  day,  that  the  confined 
employment  at  which  he  had  been  engaged  for  the 
past  three  years  had  injured  his  health,  and  he  was 
determined  to  seek  some  more  active  business :  but 
what  was  there  for  him  to  do  ?  The  times  were 
wretchedly  dull,  and  situations  were  not  to  be  had 


34  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

for  the  asking.  Hale  replied  promptly,  advising  him 
to  do  errands  between  New  York  and  Boston.  There 
was  an  urgent  want,  he  said,  of  a  parcel  Express 
between  the  two  places,  and  he  explained  to  him 
why  he  thought  so.  He  believed  that  he  could  help 
him  to  obtain  the  patronage  of  Jacob  Little,  and  the 
other  brokers,  and  (as  its  Agent)  procure  him  some 
facilities  on  board  the  John  W.  Richmond.  There 
is  another  version  of  the  story,  which  alleges  that 
Mr.  Harnden  had  conceived  the  plan  in  Boston,  be 
fore  visiting  New  York.  Harnden  consulted,  also, 
by  letter,  with  Major  J.  A.  Pullen,  who  was  conduc 
tor,  or  agent,  at  that  time,  on  the  Boston  and  Provi 
dence  line  to  New  York,  and  agent  of  the  steamers, 
and  he  not  only  encouraged  him  to  undertake  the 
experiment,  but  aided  him  in  obtaining  a  contract 
on  that  line  of  Boats.  Harnden  next  had  a  talk  with 
Mr.  Moore,  a  conductor  upon  the  Boston  and  Wor 
cester  Railroad,  in  Boston,  with  a  view  to  enlisting 
him  as  a  partner  in  the  enterprise.  Moore  (we  are 
told)  required  time  to  consider  the  matter.  On  the 
following  day,  he  went  to  the  Superintendent  of  the 
Boston  and  Providence  Railroad,  to  make  a  contract 
for  Express  facilities,  upon  his  own  account ;  and 
was  informed  that  he  was  a  little  too  late,  an  agree 
ment  having  been  entered  into,  on  the  previous  day, 
with  Harnden.  This  was  a  good  lesson  to  the  latter 
upon  the  value  of  decision  and  promptitude.  u  Nev 
er  put  off  to  the  Morrow  what  may  as  well  le  done 
To-day"  was  an  axiom  well  illustrated  by  that  inci 
dent.  Had  Moore  obtained  the  contract,  it  is  quite 


"T     OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  35 

probable  that  Harnden  would  never  have  become  an/ 
Expressman.  As  it  turned  out,  he  took,  that  day, 
the  first  step  in  a  career  that  in  less  than  three  years 
was  to  make  him  famous  throughout  the  civilized 
world,  and  hand  his  name  down  to  the  latest  poster 
ity  as  the  founder  of  a  new  branch  of  industry,  a  new 
source  of  wealth ;  a  business  constantly  increasing 
and  extending,  and  becoming  daily  more  and  more 
indispensable — a  business,  the  importance  and  value 
of  which,  both  to  the  mercantile  and  social  interests 
of  America,  cannot  now  be  over-estimated. 

Little  did  either  Hale  or  Pullen,  or  any  other 
live  man,  at  the  outset  of  Harnden's  brilliant  career, 
dream  to  what  immense  results  his  Express  was  to 
lead ;  nor  had  he,  himself,  any  conception  of  it. 

William  F.  Harnden  was  born  in  Reading,  Mas 
sachusetts,  during  the  exciting  times  of  the  war  of 
1812.  His  father  was  a  house-painter,  in  humble 
circumstances,  and  had  it  agreed  with  his  health, 
his  son  would  have  learned  the  trade.  Diminutive 
in  form,  and  fragile  in  constitution,  it  was  thought 
best  that  William  should  not  injure  his  health  by 
application  to  study;  consequently  his  education 
was  neglected.  Still,  he  became  a  superior  penman, 
as  is  proved  by  the  round,  handsome,  and  very  leg 
ible  chirography  of  several  letters  of  his,  now  in  our 
possession.  He  was  inclined  to  be  unobtrusive  and 
taciturn,  yet  his  address  was  good  and  business 
like.  His  principles  were  excellent,  his  habits  reg 
ular,  his  disposition  agreeable,  and  his  benevolence 
always  larger  than  his  means.  He  married  a  lovely 


36  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

woman,  a  daughter  of  John  Fuller,  Esq.,  of  New 
ton,  Massachusetts,  at  the  time  (we  believe)  that  he 
was  a  conductor  upon  the  Boston  and  Worcester 
Railroad.  In  Stimpson's  Boston  Directory,  for  the 
year  1838,  we  find  this  address  among  the  rest,  "W. 
F.  Harnden,  ticket-master,  W.  R  K,  h.  7  Newton 
Place."  In  the  Boston  Directory  of  the  following 
year,  it  is  entered  as  "  Express  Package  Carrier,  8 
Court,  res.  16  La  Grange  PI."  and  his  original  ad 
vertisement  occupies  a  fly-leaf  of  the  book. 

His  matrimonial  connection  proved  to  be  a  happy 
one;  and  we  have  heard  it  said,  that  in  many  a 
business  emergency,  his  wife  was  his  best  adviser. 

The  earliest  public  mention,  that  we  can  find, 
of  the  arrangement  which  he  had  made  with  the 
Superintendent  of  the  Boston  and  Providence  Rail 
road,  is  contained  in  a  Boston  newspaper,  dated 
February  23d,  1839.  For  one  or  two  reasons,  it  is 
worthy  of  preservation,  and  accordingly  we  will 
insert  it  in  this  record. 

BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 

EXPRESS    CAR. 

IMPORTANT  TO  MERCHANTS,  BROKERS,  BOOKSELLERS,  AND  OTHERS. 
W.     F.    HARNDEN, 

For  the  last  five  years,  conductor  and  passenger-clerk  for  the  Boston  and  Wor 
cester  Railroad  Company,  has  made  arrangements  with  the  Providence  Rail 
road  and  New  York  Steamboat  Companies,  to  run  a  car  through  from  Boston 
to  New  York,  and  vice  versa,  four  times  a  week,  commencing  on  Monday,  4th 
March.  He  will  accompany  a  car  himself  for  the  purpose  of  purchasing  goods, 
collecting  drafts,  notes,  and  bills.  Orders  of  all  kinds  promptly  attended  to. 
He  will  take  charge  of  all  small  packages  of  goods,  bundles,  &c.,  that  may  be 
intrusted  to  his  care,  and  see  them  safely  delivered,  and  attend  to  forwarding 
merchandise  of  all  descriptions,  (except  that  prescribed  by  the  Railroad  Com- 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  37 

panies,)  if  directed  to  his  care.     All  packages,  bundles,  <fec.,  must  be  sent  to 
office,  No.  9  Court  street,  Boston,  or  No.  1  Wall  street,  New  York. 

Orders  may  be  left  at  J.  W.  Clark  &  Co.'s,  6  City  Hall ;  Colman's  Pavilion, 
Tremont  street ;  E.  C.  Stowell,  7  Elm  street,  Boston ;  and  at  J.  P.  Smith  &. 
Co.'s,  30  Wall  street,  New  York.  Will  leave  Boston  Mondays,  Wednesdays, 
Thursdays,  and  Saturdays,  and  New  York- the  same  days. 

The  "extra  car'1  was  a  little  "play  of  fancy;" 
an  ordinary  valise  serving  to  hold  all  that  the  orig 
inal  expressman  had  to  carry  for  several  months 
afterwards.  The  identical  valise  is  now  in  the  pos 
session  of  Benjamin  P.  Cheney,  Esq.,  at  Cheney  & 
Co.'s  Express  Office,  in  Court  Square,  Boston. 
During  the  first  two  or  three  months,  Harnden 
served  as  his  own  messenger,  and  was  upon  the 
Sound  nearly  every  night  in  the  week. 

The  Boston  Transcript  of  March  21st,  1839,  con 
tained  the  first  editorial  allusion  to  Harnden  that 
we  can  find  upon  the  files  of  that  always  popular 
"daily.'7 

"  HARNDEN'S  EXPRESS,  between  Boston  and  New 
York,  has  been  running  since  the  4th  of  March,  and 
is  found  highly  convenient  to  those  who  wish  to 
send  small  packages  or  parcels,  from  one  city  to 
the  other.  Mr.  Harnden  may  be  confided  in  for 
honesty  and  fidelity  in  the  discharge  of  his  engage 
ments,  and  it  affords  us  much  pleasure  to  recom 
mend  his  '  Express'  to  the  notice  of  our  readers." 

It  then  adds  a  few  lines  in  relation  to  a  map  of 
the  Eastern  Boundary  which  Harnden  had  on  sale. 

A  day  or  two  afterwards,  it  gave  J.  W.  Hale, 
of  the  Tontine  News  Room,  New  York,  credit  for 
a  Philadelphia  newspaper.  March  25th,  complaint 


38  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

was  made  of  the  opposition  for  hiring  the  steamer 
Osceola  to  run  into  the  steamer  J.  W.  Richmond. 
The  "  Rhode  Island  "  started  for  Stonington  at  the 
same  time,  to  beat  the  Richmond. 

The  Transcript  of  April  llth,  1839,  says:  "The 
John  W.  Richmond  arrived  at  Providence  this 
morning,  far  in  advance  of  the  other  boats,  coming 
through  in  eleven  hours  and  forty-five  minutes,  be 
ing  the  shortest  passage  ever  made/'  May  14th, 
1839,  it  had  the  following:  "We  are  indebted  to 
our  friend  Harnden,  of  the  Package  Express,  for  the 
United  States'  Gazette,  (Philadelphia,)  of  yesterday 
morning." 

There  were  frequent  editorial  acknowledgments, 
subsequently,  in  all  the  principal  newspapers  of 
New  York  and  Boston,  and  Harnden  seems  to  have 
served  the  press  with  great  zeal,  for  two  or  three 
years  after  he  had  started  his  enterprise.  In  recip 
rocation,  the  editors,  by  their  commendations,  ma 
terially  aided  him. 

The  only  through  route  from  Boston  to  New 
York  at  that  time,  (March,  1839,)  was  by  rail  to 
Providence,  and  thence  to  New  York,  via  Newport, 
by  steamboat  "J.  W.  Richmond,"  Captain  W.  H. 
Townsend,  commander.  The  "  Old  Line  "  of  steam 
boats  ran  from  Stonington  to  New  York.  Harnden 
had  no  paid  Agent  in  this  city,  at  the  outset.  He 
hired  very  limited  desk-room  in  O'Hearn's  station 
ery  store,  in  the  basement,  now,  and  for  many  years 
past,  occupied  by  the  DAILY  EXPRESS  newspaper 
publication  office,  under  the  present  premises  of 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  39 

Sibell  &  Mott,  who  succeeded  O'Hearn.  Adolphus 
Harnden,  a  younger  brother  of  William's,  attended 
at  this  office,  when  not  called  thence  by  his  duties 
as  messenger.  This  young  man,  though  as  diminu 
tive  in  size  as  his  brother,  (and  the  weight  of  the 
two  together  is  said  not  to  have  exceeded  200 
pounds  at  that  time,)  had  served  creditably  as  a 
volunteer  soldier  against  Mexico  in  the  Texan  war 
of  independence.  In  appearance  he  was  as  natty 
and  snug  as  a  West  Point  cadet.  The  two  brothers 
were  so  small,  and  similar  in  looks,  that  they  used 
to  be  called,  sometimes,  when  seen  by  their  neigh 
bors  working  together,  on  the  walk,  u  the  two 
pomes}'1  They  were  inferior  in  bulk,  and  so  is  a 
gold  eagle  among  a  lot  of  coppers.  Fortunately  for 
some  of  us,  the  standard  of  personal  energy  and 
general  ability  is  not  based  upon  "carpenter's  meas 
urement.'''1  Tailors'  measures,  we  fear,  have  more 
influence,  and  often  shape  opinions,  as  well  as  men, 
but  the  best  gauge  of  a  man's  real  value  is  his 
achievements. 

Adolphus  Harnden  (we  have  heard  his  room 
mate  say)  was  not  by  any  means  a  u  fast "  young 
man ;  on  the  contrary,  he  was  very  steady,  and  as 
slow  as  he  was  sure.  He  was  chary  of  his  words, 
and  reserved  in  his  communication  with  almost 
every  one,  but  especially  with  the  30  or  40  wild 
young  men,  who  boarded  in  the  same  house  that  he 
did,  in  New  York.  He  was  remarkably  upright 
and  reliable.  We  are  pained  to  add,  that,  while 
crossing  the  Sound,  in  his  capacity  as  messenger, 


40  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

he  perished  with  the  ill-fated  steamer  Lexington, 
which  was  burnt  on  that  bitter  cold,  dark,  calami 
tous  night,  the  13th  of  January,  1840. 

This  was  an  awful  blow  to  his  brother,  relatives 
and  friends ;  but  thousands  were  mourning  for  some 
hundred  other  victims  of  the  same  dreadful  catas 
trophe,  and  the  grief  for  the  unfortunate  express 
man's  melancholy  end  was  merged  in  the  general 
sorrow. 

Thirty  thousand  dollars  in  specie,  which  he  had 
in  charge  for  delivery  to  the  Merchants'  Bank  of 
Boston,  on  account  of  the  Government,  was  lost 
with  the  Lexington. 

Dexter  Brigham,  Jr.,  aided  W.  F.  Harnden, 
both  as  messenger  and  clerk,  soon  after  the  Express 
was  started,  but  only  as  a  volunteer,  and  without 
compensation.  Harnden  told  him  that  the  Express 
was  only  an  experiment,  but  when  it  should  have 
become  a  paying  concern,  he  would  give  him  some 
thing  for  his  services. 

After  the  Express  had  been  running  a  short 
time,  via  Providence  and  Newport,  Harnden  found 
it  desirable  to  have  a  conductor  through  to  New 
York,  via  Stonington,  and  he  employed  Luke 
Damon,  who  continued  on  that  route  for  two  or 
three  years.  By  the  way,  Mr.  Damon  has  been 
longer  in  the  business  than  any  other  man.  He  has 
been  for  some  years  past  with  Kinsley  &  Co., 
Boston. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  EXPRESS  BUSINESS. 


HISTORY  OP  WM.  F.  HARNDEN,  AND  HARNDEN  &  Co.,  COMPLETED.    HARNDEN'S 

ILL  HEALTH  AND  OTHER  DISCOURAGEMENTS.  HlS  HEROISM.  NARRATIVE  OP 
T1IK  LOSS  OF  THE  LEXINGTON.  MELANCHOLY  DEATH  OF  ADOLPHUS  HARN 
DEN,  THK  FIRST  MAN  THAT  DIED  IN  THE  EXPRESS  SERVICE.  FllEEZING-UP  OF 
THE  SOUND.  NOVEL  WAY  OF  EXPRESSING.  HARNDEN  ESTABLISHES  OFFI 
CES  IN  PHILADELPHIA  AND  ALBANY.  ALLUDES  TO  THE  STARTING  OF  THE 

FIKST  OPPOSITION  EXPRESS,  (ADAMS  &  Co.)  TAKES  A  PARTNER  AND  ESTAB 
LISHES  A  EUROPEAN  BUSINESS.  CHARACTERISTIC  CORRESPONDENCE  BY  HARN 
DEN.  HENRY  WELLS  AS  HIS  AGENT.  HARNDEN  &  Go's  OPERATIONS;  THEIR 
PROGRESS  AT  HOME  AND  ABROAD.  SlCKNESS  AND  DECEASE  OF  WlLLIAM  F. 
HARNDEN.  RESULT  OF  HIS  ENTERPRISES. 

WE  have  described  the  causes  and  origin  of  the 
Package  Express;  it  now  remains  for  us  to  relate 
how  Harnden's  enterprise  stood  the  test  of  experi 
ence — wherein  it  failed,  wherein  it  prospered,  and 
how  much  of  the  fruits  of  the  noble  tree,  which  he 
had  planted,  he  was  permitted  to  enjoy  before  he 
died. 

To  illustrate  how  slight  a  thread  the  Express  line 
was  at  that  time,  Mr.  James  Cholwell,  then  a  clerk 
in  J.  W.  Hale's  foreign  letter  office,  but  subsequent 
ly  a  city  money-messenger  with  Adams  &  Co.,  in 
forms  us  that  he  remembers  that  one  day  Harnden 
came  to  where  his  employer  was  sorting  letters,  and 


42  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

striking  his  hand  emphatically  upon  the  counter, 
declared  that  uhe  could  not  make  it  go,"  meaning 
the  Express  business.  * '  He  had  expended, "  he  said, 
"a  thousand  or  twelve  hundred  upon  it,  and  had 
not  got  half  his  money  back."  Hale  reminded  him 
that  the  Cunard  line  of  steamships  was  about  to  go 
into  operation  between  Liverpool  and  Boston,  and 
this  would  necessarily  make  a  multitude  of  foreign 
parcels  for  delivery,  in  New  York  and  Philadelphia, 
by  express.  Harnden  saw  at  once  the  force  of  the 
suggestion,  and  was  encouraged  to  continue  his  en 
terprise.  When  the  steamships  commenced  run 
ning,  the  communication  between  New  York  and 
Boston  perceptibly  increased,  and  the  impetus  given 
by  it  to  the  business  of  the  latter  city  materially 
helped  Harnden  &  Co. 

The  reader  will  understand  that  Harnden,  in  the 
struggle  for  the  establishment  of  his  "  project, "had 
had  the  odds  very  much  against  him.  He  had  nei 
ther  health,  capital,  nor  friends  to  back  him.  As 
before  stated,  the  reason  of  his  resigning  his  situa 
tion  as  ticket-master  on  the  B.  and  Worcester  R.  R. 
was  that  his  slender  constitution  had  been  seriously 
injured  by  his  steadfast  application  to  the  duty  re 
quired  of  him ;  hence  he  was  not  physically  equal 
to  the  fatigue  inseparable  from  the  berth  of  an  Ex 
press  conductor,  or  messenger  ;  and  it  was  a  subject 
of  wonder,  to  all  who  knew  him,  that  he  endured 
it  as  well  as  he  did.  The  secret  of  it  was,  that  he 
had,  under  a  very  quiet,  and  rather  taciturn  de- 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  43 

meaner,  great  hopefulness,  a  steady  zeal,  and  a 
strong  will.  By  almost  superhuman  exertion  of  the 
latter  faculty,  when  worn  out  by  a  night  of  harder 
duty  than  usual,  by  which  he  had  been  robbed  of 
his  needful  rest,  and  exposed  to  the  roughest  wea 
ther,  on  sea  and  land,  he  would  reanimate  his  ex 
hausted  system,  and  nerve  himself  to  discharge  the 
recurring  labor.  In  these  days  of  progress,  it  is 
not  so  easy  to  appreciate  the  severe  ordeal  which 
Harnden  went  through.  Unless  a  man  is  stimulat 
ed  by  an  indomitable  spirit,  if  his  body  is  weak  and 
undermined  by  disease,  he  feels  privileged  to  shun 
fatigue  ;  but  Harnden,  on  the  contrary,  resolutely 
encountered  the  hardships  of  his  new  business,  at 
all  times,  and  often  against  the  remonstrances  of  his 
friends,  who  feared  that  he  had  undertaken  a  work 
that  would  soon  destroy  him.  Among  other  things, 
it  was  his  pride  to  be  the  first  to  board  the  British 
Mail  Steamer,  to  obtain  the  European  news  for  the 
press  ;  and  even  though  it  should  be  between  mid 
night  and  morning,  his  office  would  be  illuminated, 
and  he  and  his  men  on  the  alert  for  the  expected 
arrival.  This  often  occurred,  when,  instead  of  such 
exposure,  he  ought  to  have  been  in  bed,  and  under 
a  doctor's  care. 

His  Express  had  been  in  operation  only  a  few 
months,  when — it  was  in  the  summer  or  fall  of 
1839 — O'Hearn,  a  part  of  whose  little  store  in  the 
basement  of  what  is  now  No.  20  Wall  Street,  at  the 
corner  of  Nassau  Street,  we  have  said  was  his  orig- 


44  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

ina]  office  in  this  city,  requested  him  to  remove, 
because  the  receipts  of  parcels  had  so  increased, 
that  they  obstructed  the  stationer's  own  business. 
Harnden  acquiesced,  and  hired  an  office  at  No.  2 
Wall  Street,  in  a  building  situated  where  the  Bank 
of  the  Republic  now  stands. 

His  original  office  in  Boston  was  in  the  same 
room  with  Staples,  the  Stage  Agent,  No  9  Court 
Street.  B.  D.  &  G.  B.  Earle,  Bank  Messengers  be 
tween  Boston  and  Providence,  started  an  Express 
between  those  two  cities,  and  occupied  a  portion  of 
Harnden's  Providence  office. 

In  August,  1839,  E.  L.  Stone,  a  native  of  Lei 
cester,  Mass.,  became  a  clerk  in  Harnden's  service  at 
No.  2  Wall  Street.     J.  W.  Lawrence  was  agent  of 
the  Boston  office;  and  Luke  Damon  and  Adolphus 
Harnden  were  messengers.    This  arrangement  con 
tinued  until  the  13th  of  January,  1840,  the  date  of 
the  disaster  to  the  Lexington.     On  that  fatal  day, 
the  business  of  the  Express  at  the  New  York  office 
seemed  even  better  than  usual.     Harnden  had  been 
intrusted  with  the  delivery  of  $20,000  to  Franklin 
Haven,  President  of  the  Merchants'  Bank,  and  U. 
S.  Pension  Agent.     Besides  that  large  sum,  they 
had  in  charge  as  much  more  for  various  other  par 
ties  in  Boston;  and  a  considerable  quantity  of  par 
cels,  &c.     The  money  and  valuables  were  put  into 
the  portable  safe  or  iron  box  as  usual,  and  this  was 
bestowed  in  the  Express  crate,  with  the  packages, 
by  Adolphus  Harnden,  who  little  imagined,  when  it 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  45 

was  done,  that  he  had  packed  it  for  the  last  time.  It 
was  a  winter's  afternoon,  but  the  trip  seemed  likely 
to  be  safe  enough. 

There  were  nearly  100  passengers  on  board,  be 
sides  37  persons  in  the  capacity  of  officers  and  crew. 
On  deck  was  a  large  quantity  of  cotton,  in  bales. 

At  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening,  when  about  five 
miles  east  of  Eaton's  Neck,  L.  L,  and  going  at  the 
rate  of  12  miles  an  hour,  the  cotton  near  the  smoke- 
pipe  was  discovered  to  be  on  fire!  The  wind  was 
blowing  very  fresh,  and  all  endeavors  to  extinguish 
the  flames  being  found  ineffectual,  the  boat  was 
headed  for  Long  Island.  Unhappily  the  tiller  ropes 
were  soon  broken  by  straining,  and  the  vessel  be 
came  unmanageable. 

The  consternation  was  now  so  universal,  that  two 
of  the  Lexington's  boats,  and  the  life-boat,  were 
no  sooner  lifted  out  and  let  down  into  the  water, 
than  a  crowd  of  panic-stricken  mortals  precipitated 
themselves  on  board,  and  swamped  them — by  this 
means  losing  their  own  lives,  and  depriving  the  rest 
of  their  only  dependence  in  that  terrible  emergency. 
Another  boat,  which  had  been  lowered  very  care 
fully,  and  apparently  all  right,  was  found,  a  day  or 
two  afterwards,  with  four  bodies  in  it,  and  nearly 
full  of  water. 

The  engine,  also,  became  useless,  and  the  boat 
drifted  at  the  mercy  of  the  wind  and  sea,  while  the 
volume  of  fire  from  the  rapidly-consuming  cotton 
swept  over  her,  and  her  despairing  passengers  and 


46  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

crew,  with  a  fearfulness  that  defies  description. 
The  conflagration  being  amidships,  cut  off  necessari 
ly  all  communication  from  stem  to  stern,  where  the 
passengers  were  collected;  some  clinging  to  each 
other,  some  on  their  knees,  and  either  imploring 
God  to  help  them,  or  unavailingly  bewailing  the 
horrible  doom  which  gazed  grimly  into  their  pale 
countenances. 

The  blazing  wreck,  shining  far  over  the  intensely 
cold  and  heavy  waste  of  waters,  exhibited  the  scene 
of  the  catastrophe  with  terrible  distinctness.  To 
remain  on  board  was  to  incur  certain  death,  and 
to  cast  themselves  into  the  sea  was  the  only  alterna 
tive.  It  was  a  desperate  resort,  but,  commending 
themselves  to  God.  the  poor  creatures  availed  them 
selves  of  the  wretched  privilege  of  a  choice  in  the 
manner  of  their  death;  for  they  could  hardly  have 
entertained  a  hope  of  surviving.  A  very  few,  who 
hesitated  to  precipitate  themselves  into  the  merci 
less  deep,  clung  to  the  sides  of  the  burning  hull, 
in  the  hope  of  prolonging  for  a  few  moments  their 
limited  existence. 

Only  four  persons  were  saved;  and  110  men, 
8  women,  and  3  children  are  known  to  have  per 
ished.  If  any,  upon  spars  and  fragments  of  the 
wreck,  escaped  drowning,  it  was  only  to  die  by 
exposure.  It  is  possible  that  a  few  survived  until 
morning,  and  drew  their  last  breath  in  sight  of  the 
rising  sun. 

Many  of  the  victims  of  that  awful  calamity  were 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  47 

prominent  citizens  of  New  York  and  Boston.  The 
public  favorite,  the  inimitable  comedian,  the  wit, 
the  scholar,  and  the  gentleman,  Henry  T.  Finn,  en 
acted  in  that  tragedy  the  last  scene  in  his  life. 
How  impressively  it  stands  out  in  contrast  with  what 
we  remember  of  him,  as,  many  a  time  and  oft,  at 
the  annual  Corporation  dinner,  he  used  to  "set  the 
table  in  a  roar/7  or,  in  some  comic  part  upon  the 
stage,  would  convulse  the  audience  with  a  laughter 
that  would  tickle  the  ribs  for  whole  days  afterwards, 
and  cause  the  very  mention  of  his  name  to  excite 
the  risibles  of  the  hearer!  Poor  Finn!  Who  of 
the  vast  multitude  that  knew  you,  has  not  paid  to 
your  memory  the  tribute  of  a  tear? 

There  is  no  record  of  the  personal  experience  of 
any  one  of  their  companions,  except  that  of  the  four 
who  were  saved;  and  we  have  none  of  Adolphus 
Harnden.  That  he  behaved  with  courage  and  forti 
tude,  we  have  no  reason  to  doubt. 

Express  messengers  have,  in  numerous  instances 
of  disaster  by  sea  and  land,  distinguished  themselves 
by  their  presence  of  mind  and  intrepidity  in  seeking 
to  save  or  serve  those  in  distress  around  them.  In 
Harnden's  case,  any  attempt  to  rescue  his  fellow 
passengers  would  have  been  futile.  His  only  care 
was  for  the  safety  of  the  very  heavy  amount  of  treas 
ure  which  he  had  in  his  charge.  He  took  his  iron 
safe,  containing  about  $40,000,  from  the  crate  be 
fore  the  boats  were  swamped,  in  the  hope  of  getting 
it  into  one  of  them,  after  they  had  done  their  office 


48  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

in  conveying  the  passengers  and  others  ashore. 
Finding  it  was  too  heavy  for  that,  he  may  have 
opened  it  and  taken  out  the  packages,  for  their  bet 
ter  conveyance.  Probably  all,  or  a  portion,  of  the 
$12,000  in  specie  belonging  to  the  Merchants7  Bank 
had  not  been  put  into  the  safe,  for  one  who  was 
there  says  that  he  saw  the  boxes  used  by  some  per 
sons  in  throwing  water  upon  the  flames. 

The  safe  was  upon  castors,  and  it  rolled  overboard 
when  the  steamer  lurched.  It  has  never  been  found, 
nor  any  portion  of  the  money.  Fragments  of  the 
crate  were  picked  up  a  short  time  afterwards,  but 
nothing  of  any  value.  The  body  of  the  unfortunate 
messenger  was  never  recovered. 

On  the  day  following  the  disaster,  Captain  Corn- 
stock,  accompanied  by  Dexter  Brigham,  Jr.,  and 
two  or  three  other  gentlemen,  proceeded  with  his 
crew,  in  the  Steamer  Statesman,  to  hunt  for  such  of 
the  poor  creatures  as  might  yet  be  alive  upon  the 
icy  shores,  or  afloat  upon  spars,  &c.  Crowley,  the 
second  mate,  was  found  in  good  quarters;  having 
floated  ashore  on  a  bale  of  cotton,  (which,  by  the 
way,  he  gratefully  preserves,  in  remembrance  of  its 
service;)  and  three  others  were  saved,  but  no  trace 
was  discovered  of  the  unfortunate  Express  con 
ductor. 

In  Thompson's  History  of  Long  Island,  it  is  stat 
ed  that  the  commander  of  the  Lexington,  Greorge 
Child,  was  smothered  in  the  wheel-house,  but  Mr. 
Crowley,  the  survivor  above  mentioned,  with  whom 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  49 

we  have  quite  recently  conversed  upon  this  painful 
topic,  informed  us  that  he  saw  the  captain  in  an 
other  part  of  the  vessel,  after  that  was  burnt.  God 
only  knows  how  he  died.  Mr.  Crowley  is  now 
freight  clerk  in  the  same  line. 

Upon  the  death  of  the  younger  Harnden,  E.  L. 
Stone,  (who  seems  to  have  stood  ready  then,  and  at 
all  times,  for  several  years  afterwards,  to  repair  to 
any  post,  or  assume  the  charge  of  any  department 
of  the  business,  to  which  his  employer  might  detail 
him,)  was  called  upon  to  fill  his  place.  Accordingly, 
he  left  New  York,  as  messenger,  or  Express  con 
ductor,  on  the  day  after  the  arrival  of  the  shock 
ing  news  of  the  disaster.  It  was  in  the  Steamer 
Providence,  and  that  trip  across  the  Sound  and 
back,  was  the  last  made  by  any  boat  for  several 
weeks  after  the  loss  of  the  Lexington,  for  the  reason 
that  during  all  that  time  navigation  was  effectually 
prevented  by  the  ice.  1840  was  a  remarkable  year 
in  many  respects,  and  the  winter,  with  which  it 
opened  the  ball,  was  as  noteworthy  as  anything  else. 
It  would  have  done  honor  to  Siberia,  herself. 

It  was  a  most  discouraging  period  for  "  the  only 
Express.7'  Most  men,  in  like  circumstances,  would 
have  stopped  running,  until  such  time  as  God 
should  see  fit  to  unfetter  the  Sound  from  its  shack 
les  of  ice,  or  cause  the  snow-drifts,  which  covered 
every  overland  route,  to  disappear.  But  not  so 
Harnden.  If  any  man  was  ever  expressly  designed 
by  nature  to  be  at  the  head  of  an  Express  line,  it 

4 


50  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

was  he.  Obstacles  that  would  have  daunted  ordi 
nary  forwarders,  only  served  as  a  zest  to  him,  and 
his  truest  enjoyment  was  in  overcoming  impedi 
ments.  Put  a  wall  of  fire  between  New  York  and 
Boston,  and  he  would  have  tunnelled  the  solid 
earth,  but  he  would  have  got  his  Express  through. 
And  he  had  drawn  to  him,  as  employees,  men  of 
similar  pluck  and  ambition.  It  required  not  only 
zeal  and  energy,  but  unusual  power  of  endurance, 
for  his  messengers  to  travel  through  the  snow 
drifts,  in  open  sleighs,  night  and  day,  the  entire 
distance  between  New  York  and  Worcester,  Mass., 
in  that  Russian  winter.  The  narrative  of  that  non 
pareil  of  travellers,  Bayard  Taylor,  about  his  sledge 
rides  in  Norway,  with  the  mercury  at  30  degrees 
below  zero,  Fahrenheit,  is  enough  to  make  one's 
teeth  chatter;  but  Stone  and  Damon,  Harnden's 
messengers,  at  the  period  to  which  we  allude,  could 
tell  a  yarn  that  would  cause  a  Norwegian  driver  of 
a  team  of  reindeer  to  shudder,  even  if  he  did  not 
understand  a  word  of  the  language. 

Harnden  would  not  allow  the  obstruction  to  effect 
even  his  usual  hours  of  departure,  &c.  Leaving 
the  "Westchester  House,  in  the  Bowery,  at  5  P.M., 
his  messenger  would  travel  all  night,  and  all  the 
next  day,  and  all  of  the  succeeding  night,  (in  the 
manner  above  described,)  to  reach  Worcester, 
where,  thankful  enough  for  the  change,  he  would 
get  into  the  cars  for  Boston.  When  it  is  considered 
that  the  messenger's  valise  always  contained  a  large 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

CF 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  '    51 

amount  of  money,  it  will  be  thought  singular  that 
no  attempt  was  made  to  rob  him,  en  route.  Often 
times  the  sleigh  in  which  he  rode  was  a  public  con 
veyance,  filled  with  people,  who  were  strangers  to 
him.  It  would  have  been  very  easy  for  two  or 
three,  or  more  desperadoes,  to  have  pre-engaged 
all,  or  nearly  all,  the  seats,  and  by  that  means  to 
have  robbed  him  with  perfect  impunity;  securing  or 
killing  him  when  off  his  guard.  If  the  enterprising 
Walton,  better  known  as  "  Lightfoot,"  the  highway 
man,  had  been  around  at  that  time,  instead  of  lead 
ing  a  life  of  seclusion  in  the  State  Prison,  at 
Charlestown,  Ms.,  it  is  possible  that  he  might  have 
waylaid  the  Express;  as  it  happened,  the  worst 
enemy  which  the  messenger  had  to  encounter  was 
the  occasional  drift,  by  which  he  and  the  precious 
valise  at  his  knees  were  pitched  incontinently  into 
a  snow-bank.  This  was  an  accident  which  occur 
red  frequently,  especially  at  night,  when  it  was  dif 
ficult  to  distinguish  the  road. 

By  the  way,  Harnden  had  a  penchant  for  the  de 
tection  and  arrest  of  thieves,  amounting  almost  to 
an  idiosyncracy,  as  we  shah1  illustrate  in  our  book 
of  Express  anecdotes. 

Another  of  his  peculiarities  was  to  write  out 
instructions  for  the  use  of  every  man  in  his  employ 
ment,  and  if  he  intended  to  be  absent  a  few  days, 
these  written  directions  would  be  very  minute  and 
explicit. 

The  following  letter,  written  by  him,  in  his  Bos- 


52  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

ton  office,  to  his  local  agent  there,  will  indicate  this, 
and  serve  to  illustrate  how  careful  he  was  in  super 
vising  the  details  of  his  business: 

BOSTON,  JAN.  4,  1840. 
J.  W.  LAWRENCE,  ESQ., 

SIR — While  I  am  absent,  the  conductors  and 
others  in  our  employ  will  obey  your  orders,  same 
as  they  would  mine. 

You  will  please  take  the  whole  charge  of  the 
business  at  this  end  of  the  line. 

Please  see  that  Mr.  Stone  makes  a  deposit  daily 
at  the  Merchants'  Bank,  provided  he  has  $50  on 
hand. 

Mr.  Gray  must  not  remain  in  Boston  over  five 
days,  and  the  regular  hours  of  business  he  will  be 
at  our  office,  with  Mr.  Stone,  except  one  day,  which 
he  can  take  to  himself,  if  he  chooses. 

Should  you  be  obliged  to  send  an  Extra  con 
ductor  to  New  York,  on  account  of  the  non-arrival 
of  the  Regular  Cars,  you  will  send  Capt.  Fuller. 
If  he  should  not  be  at  this  end  of  the  route,  you 
will  send  Mr.  Gray.  But  should  he  also  be  absent, 
you  can  send  Mr.  Stone. 

"  Important. "--Your  will  please  be  very  particu 
lar  to  see  that  all  the  Brokers'  parcels  are  called  for 
in  season,  say  half  an  hour  before  the  cars  leave. 

You  will  use  all  your  exertions  to  have  all  out 
standing  bills  collected  before  I  return. 

Should  you  have  any  important  letters  for  me, 
which  require  an  immediate  answer,  you  will  please 
forward  them  to  me,  at  the  United  States  Hotel, 
Philadelphia,  (provided  you  cannot  answer  them 


EXPRESS     HISTOEY.  53 

yourself,)  say  any  you  may  receive  before  next  Sat 
urday. 

You  will  send  to  Chas.  Gr.  Greene,  daily,  a  Journal 
of  Commerce  and  an  Evening  Express. 

You  will  also  send,  (and  here  he  goes  on  to  men 
tion  several  editors  who  must  be  supplied  daily  with 
copies  of  the  U.  S.  Philadelphia  Gazette.) 

We  have  signed  five  bills  of  exchange,  which  are 
to  be  used  as  the  case  may  require. 

WM.  F.  HARNDEN. 

You  will  please  send  to  our  box,  No.  77,  Post 
Office,  three  times  per  day. 

H.  &  Co. 

Harnden's  visit  to  Philadelphia  at  that  time  was 
either  the  cause,  or  a  consequence,  of  his  projection 
of  an  Express  from  New  York  to  that  city.  Early 
in  1840,  he  contemplated  such  an  extension  of  his 
line,  and  in  the  spring  of  that  year  he  commission 
ed  E.  L.  Stone  to  go  thither,  and  act  as  his  agent. 
Mr.  S.  says,  "  I  had  a  book  of  instructions,  written 
by  Harnden,  for  me,  before  going  to  Philadelphia, 
wherein  the  minutest  things  were  noted."  Mr. 
Stone  accordingly  rented  desk  room  in  an  office  oc 
cupied  by  a  money  broker,  at  the  corner  of  Third 
and  Market  Streets,  and  commenced  the  first  Ex 
press  ever  established  in  that  great  city.  Major  J. 
A.  Pullen  was  employed  by  Harnden  about  this 
time,  and  run  as  messenger  between  Boston  and 
New  York,  via  Providence.  Captain  John  B.  H. 
Fuller  (brother-in-law  to  Harnden)  began  to  run 


54  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

messenger  for  him  in  May,  1840,  and  continued  in 
the  business  until  April,  1843. 

The  Express  was  run  by  Harnden  some  time  be 
fore  he  made  a  contract  with  the  old  line  of  boats 
from  Stonington.  His  messenger  paid  regular  fare, 
and  carried  all  packages  in  a  carpet  bag  and  trunk. 
After  the  lapse  of  six  months,  or  a  year,  he  made 
a  contract  with  that  line,  and  the  Providence  and 
Stonington  Railroad  Company,  to  carry  a  crate  or 
a  car  through.  Each  messenger  then  carried  a  sea 
son  ticket,  obtained  by  holding  a  few  shares  of  the 
company's  stock.  According  to  the  terms  of  that 
contract,  the  Boston  and  Providence  Railroad  Com 
pany  were  entitled  to  one-third  of  the  gross  re 
ceipts  of  the  Express  upon  freight;  and  the  Provi 
dence  and  Stonington  Railroad  Company  (including, 
we  presume,  the  boats)  were  also  to  receive  a  sim 
ilar  share;  the  remainder  to  be  Harnden's. 

His  first  contract  with  the  owners  of  the  "  J.  W. 
Richmond"  was  to  convey  a  car  or  crate  to  New 
York.  He  took  five  or  six  shares  of  the  stock, 
which  entitled  him  or  his  messenger  to  a  free  pas 
sage. 

We  have  before  us  a  letter  from  Harnden  to 
Luke  Damon,  which,  as  it  indicates  the  origin  of 
the  second  Express,  and  the  earliest  " opposition," 
we  will  now  copy: 

BOSTON,  MAY  5,  1840. 
FRIEND  DAMON — You  must  be  home  on  or  be- 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  55 

fore  the  14th,  as  Brigham's  sister  is  to  be  married, 
and  he  wants  leave  of  absence  to  attend  the  wed 
ding.  The  Western  arrived  on  Sunday, (A.M. 
Burke  &  Go's  Express  commenced  running  yester 
day.  They  did  not  have  quite  a  hatfull  of  packages.^ 

Yours,  in  haste, 

WM.  F.  HARNDEN. 

The  hand-writing  in  this  letter  is  very  legible 
and  business-like.  We  like  its  sententious  brevity, 
also.  [Burke  &  Go's  Express  was  conducted  by  P: 
B.  Burke  and  Alvin  Adams;  but  the*  latter  gentle 
man  was  the  back-bone  of  the  enterprise. 

As  the  letter  implies,  the  first  opposition  Express 
was  run  on  the  4th  of  May,  1840.  ] 

It  is  not,  however,  our  purpose  to  speak  of  any 
other  Express  enterprise,  until  we  shall  have  done 
with  Harnden.  We  hope  to  do  justice  to  all  of 
them,  in  succeeding  portions  of  this  work;  but  as 
the  originator  of  the  business,  it  is  due  to  him  that 
the  history  of  his  operations  should  precede  the  rest. 

He  was  so  well  satisfied  with  his  New  York  agent, 
Brigham,  that  though  he  was  scarcely  more  than  of 
age,  and  without  a  dollar  to  his  name,  he  made  him 
a  partner,  November  1,  1840.  Harnden,  himself, 
was  then  only  about  28  years  old. 

Dexter  Brigham,  Jr.,  was  a  young  man  of  more 
than  ordinary  tact  and  enterprise.  We  well  re 
member,  that  at  the  age  of  fifteen  he  was  "more  of 
a  man  "  than  many  at  twenty.  He  was  a  native  of 
Westboro',  Mass.  For  many  years  his  father  kept 


56  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

an  excellent  hotel  there.  His  parents  were  very 
respectable,  and  all  their  children  were  remarka 
ble  for  intelligence  and  cultivation.  He  married  a 
beautiful  and  accomplished  daughter  of  Rev.  Mr. 
Rockwood,  of  that  town.  Prior  to  going  into  the 
Express  business,  he  had  been  a  civil-engineer 
and  a  conductor  upon  a  Railroad.  His  education 
was  good,  his  temperament  bold  and  sanguine,  and 
his  ambition  immense.  While  serving  as  conductor 
of  the  Boston  and  Worcester  Railroad  passenger 
train,  he  was  once  thrown  from  the  cars  by  an  ac 
cident,  and  alighting,  head-foremost,  on  a  heap  of 
stones,  was  believed  to  be  fatally  injured.  It  would 
have  killed  any  ordinary  man,  and  Brigham,  though 
he  recovered,  so  as  in  after-years  to  execute  a  world 
of  business,  often  suffered,  temporarily,  from  the 
effects  of  that  concussion  upon  his  brain. 

Upon  the  same  day  that  he  had  the  good  for 
tune  to  have  his  name  associated  with  William  F. 
Harnden's  as  his  partner,  Brigham  took  passage 
for  England.  He  was  accompanied  by  their  friend 
and  employee,  E.  L.  Stone.  Their  commission  was 
to  put  into  operation  a  plan,  which  Harnden  am 
bitiously  conceived  would  impress  the  world  with  a 
better  appreciation  of  American  enterprise.  Brig- 
ham  was  to  establish  Express  offices  in  Liverpool, 
London,  and  Paris,  for  the  accommodation  of  trade 
between  this  country  and  those  great  cities;  and 
this  he  accomplished,  though  not  without  some  un 
expected  discouragements. 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  57 

Harnden  was  fortunate  in  having  a  good  friend 
in  the  Boston  correspondent  of  a  first-rate  London 
Banking  House,  Eben.  Thayer,  now  of  this  city, 
who  not  only  warmly  recommended  the  trans-at- 
lantic  enterprise  to  the  countenance  and  patronage 
of  Greene  &  Co.,  of  London,  but  introduced  H.  to 
the  agent  of  the  Cunard  line  of  British  Mail  Steam 
ships,  which  was  the  means  of  his  obtaining  valu 
able  Express  facilities  on  board  those  vessels. 

Brigham  and  Stone  returned  in  the  Steamer 
Columbia,  in  August,  1841,  leaving  the  foreign 
business  in  charge  of  Willmer  &  Smith.  Subse 
quently  E.  Gr.  Tuckerman  was  their  Liverpool  agent. 

This  enterprise  abroad,  as  was  anticipated,  gave 
Harnden  &  Co.  great  eclat  at  home,  and  was  re 
garded  as  creditable  to  the  nation.  Possibly,  by 
close  attention  and  judicious  management,  it  might 
have  been  rendered  remunerative,  but,  if  so,  it 
would  have  been  more  fortunate  than  more  recent 
enterprises  in  the  same  direction.  Certainly  it  was 
of  no  ultimate  benefit  to  its  projector. 

A  very  neat  letter-sheet  circular,  with  a  vignette 
in  the  upper  left-hand  corner,  representing  Harn 
den  with  a  letter-bag  on  his  shoulder,  and  with  one 
stride  stepping  from  one  hemisphere  to  the  other, 
advertised  his  "English  and  Continental  Express." 
For  the  first  three  or  four  years,  it  promised  to  be  "  a 
great  success,"  at  least  such  was  its  outside  show;  but 
it  is  probable  that,  before  he  died,  Harnden,  himself, 
had  come  to  regard  it  as  fatal  to  his  prosperity. 


58  EXPRESS     HISTORY, 

Harnden's  Express  between  New  York  and  Phila 
delphia  did  not  amount  to  much,  until  the  spring 
of  1841,  when  H.  &  Co.  succeeded  in  making  a  con 
tract  with  the  Camden  and  Amboy  Railroad  Com 
pany  for  facilities  not  previously  enjoyed. 

The  annexed  letter  to  J.  W.  Lawrence,  (who  had 
been  transferred  from  the  agency  of  the  Boston  of 
fice  to  the  more  difficult  duty  of  establishing  the 
enterprise  in  Philadelphia,  after  Stone  left  for  En 
gland,  the  preceding  November,)  will  illustrate  the 
outset  of  the  regular  Express  there,  and  Harnden's 
way  of  doing  things  in  that  early  stage  of  the  busi 
ness.  It  was  addressed  by  him  to  "J.  "W.  Law 
rence,  Esq.,  42  South  Third  Street,  Philadelphia, 
Pa."  The  ink  and  hand- writing,  after  the  lapse  of 
seventeen  years,  will  bear  comparison  with  any  of 
the  latest  records  in  the  Registrar's  books. 

No.  14  Bedford  Street, 

BOSTON,  25TH  MARCH,  1841. 
FRIEND  LAWRENCE: 

We  hired  Charles  M.  Brown  to-day,  to  act  as 
conductor  between  New  York  and  Philadelphia, 
opposite  trips  to  Major  Pullen.  He  will  leave  here 
to-morrow  P.  M.  for  Philadelphia,  to  be  there  in 
season  to  commence  on  Monday  morning,  by  the  7 
o'clock  boat.  Major  Pullen  will  leave  New  York  on 
Monday  morning  at  7  o'clock.  Pullen  and  Brown 
will  each  carry  one  of  our  big  black  trunks.  You 
will  send  by  them  all  the  packages  you  can  collect. 
We  thought  it  best  to  have  P.  and  B.  go  over  the 
route  a  few  trips  before  we  commenced  running 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  59 

our  crates,  and  have  them  get  a  little  acquainted 
with  the  route  and  agents.  This  will  give  them  a 
chance  to  make  one  trip  each  way  before  you  put 
the  crates  on,  which  will  be  Thursday,  April  1st, 
7  o'clock,  A.M.,  if  that  is  the  hour  the  passenger 
boat  leaves.  You  will  please  notify  the  proper 
agent  at  Philadelphia  of  the  fact,  i.e.,  we  wish  our 
crates  to  commence  running  on  Thursday,  April 
1st,  by  first  passenger  boat. 

You  will  send  one  of  the  big  black  trunks  in  each 
crate,  for  small  bundles  for  New  York.  You  will 
also  send  another  large  trunk  in  each  car,  which 
must  be  marked  "Boston  and  Philadelphia,"  and 
in  this  trunk  you  will  put  all  bundles  for  Boston, 
and  the  Philadelphia  conductor  must  have  it  ready 
to  put  on  board  of  the  Stonington  boat  the  mo 
ment  the  boat  from  Philadelphia  comes  to  the 
wharf.  This  last  trunk  is  not  to  go  up  to  the  New 
York  office,  but  come  immediately  to  Boston. 

You  will  please  give  the  conductors  written  in 
structions  respecting  this. 

It  may  often  happen  that  the  boat  from  Phila 
delphia  will  be  late  into  New  York,  and  the  con 
ductor  will  only  have  time  to  carry  the  Boston 
trunk  from  one  boat  to  the  other.  When  the  con 
ductor  finds  the  boat  is  late,  he  must  take  his 
Boston  trunk  out  of  the  crate  before  he  arrives  at 
the  wharf. 

We  hope  you  will  have  our  cards  and  circulars 
well  distributed  through  the  Cities  of  Philadelphia 
and  Baltimore.     The  cards  should  be  tacked  up  in 
every  business  place  in  Philadelphia.      We   shall" 
send  you  4,000  or  5,000  more  cards  soon. 

We  hope  and  expect  you  will  all  leave  no  means 
untried  to  establish  the  credit  of  the  new  Philadel- 


60  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

phia  line.  You  must  see  that  every  part  of  the 
business  is  done  up  in  a  correct  and  prompt  man 
ner.  If  you  follow  this  advice,  there  can  be  "  no 
such  word  as  fail." 

Have  an  eye  to  the  editors.  Let  them  not  for 
get  that  we  are  in  the  field.  You  know  that  they 
can  do  much  for  us,  if  they  think  proper. 

We  must  gain  the  confidence  and  good  will  of  the 
railroad  and  boat  agents.  See  that  our  men  do  the 
right  thing  for  them.  Much  depends  in  making 
friends  of  the  agents  and  conductors  of  the  Camden 
and  Amboy  line. 

See  that  all  your  packages  are  delivered  as  soon 
as  possible  after  they  arrive  in  Philadelphia.  Keep 
good  friends  with  the  Post  Office  folks.  Gain  and 
and  keep  their  confidence.  Receive  nothing  mail- 
able.*  You  will  have  no  small  number  of  Post 
Office  spies  at  your  heels.  They  will  watch  you 
very  close.  See  that  they  have  their  trouble  for 
their  pains. 

Send  us  a  list  of  your  expenses  weekly.  We 
shall  have  to  work  hard  the  first  month  to  pay  our 
expenses.  You  will  purchase  a  ledger,  cash  book, 
and  journal,  in  Philadelphia;  we  will  send  you  the 
way-bill  books  to-morrow. 

Should  the  Steamer  Acadia  arrive  her  on  the  2d 
April,  I  shall  probably  look  in  upon  you  on  the  3d 
about  2  o'clock.  Shall  send  you  the  Sorrel  Horse  to 
morrow.  Hope  he  will  reach  you  in  good  condition. 

******     _Lo<9&  out  for  robbers. 
Truly  yours, 

HARNDEN  &  Co. 

*  Harnden  little  thought,  then,  that  the  Post  Office  Depart 
ment  would  at  length  come  to  regard  boxes  of  jewelry  and  mer 
chandise  as  "  mailable."  S. 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  61 

The  Express  thus  established  in  Philadelphia, 
with  all  the  requisite  facilities,  was  entirely  success 
ful,  and  has  not  ceased  to  grow  in  public  favor  con 
stantly  from  that  day  to  the  present  time.  Encour 
aged  by  the  fair  prospects  of  his  enterprise  south 
ward,  Harnden  determined  to  establish  an  Express 
from  New  York  to  Albany,  via  the  Hudson  River. 
The  following  is  a  copy  of  a  letter  relating  to  that 
project: 

No.  2  Wall  Street, 

NEW  YORK,  23o  APRIL,  1841. 
MR.  LUKE  DAMON  : 

As  we  are  obliged  to  go  to  Philadelphia,  we  fully 
authorize  you  to  go  to  Albany,  and  make  arrange 
ments  for  extending  our  Express  to  that  city,  in 
connection  with  t)ur  Philadelphia  and  Boston  lines. 
In  haste, 

Your  obedient  servants, 

HARNDEN  &  Co. 

An  Express  was  accordingly  established  between 
Albany  and  New  York  by  that  firm  ;  but  it  was  in 
the  face  of  a  very  decided  opposition.  What  upon 
the  land  had  formerly  been  done  by  stage  drivers, 
in  the  way  of  parcel  delivery,  was  done  upon  the 
river  by  the  captains  of  the  steamboats,  and  they 
rarely  made  less  'than  from  five  to  ten  dollars  per 
trip,  as  their  own  private  perquisites,  by  this  ser 
vice.  Their  best  and  most  reliable  customers,  in 
this  line,  were  the  banks  and  note  brokers.  Of 
course,  the  captains  were  "down  upon"  the  Ex 
press.  It  was  an  innovation  "  most  tolerable  and 


62  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

not  to  be  endured,"  as  Dogberry  would  say.  It  was 
dangerous  to  financial  safety,  and  perilous  to  col 
lateral  securities.  It  was  an  encroachment  upon 
steamboat  privileges,  and  a  palpable  violation  of 
river  law.  Finally,  (and  a  clincher,)  it  was  calcu 
lated  to  diminish  the  captain's  perquisites ;  conse 
quently  it  must  be  nipped  in  the  bud.  The  course 
taken  by  the  grumblers  was  about  as  sensible  as 
their  logic,  and  they  did  a  great  deal  to  annoy 
Harnden's  messenger  and  defeat  his  business,  not 
withstanding  that  the  owners  of  the  boats  were  in 
his  favor;  but  Pullen,  who  was  running  the  Express 
at  that  time,  soon  got  the  better  of  them. 

In  the  Boston  "  Sunday  Morning  Chronicle"  of 
October  31,  1841,  annexed  to  the»picture  of  Harn- 
den  &  Co.'s  office  in  that  city,  which  we  have  had 
re-produced  for  this  history,  we  find  a  short  sketch 
of  their  business.  "Branches  of  Harnden's  Ex 
press,"  it  states,  "  are  now  established  in  Liverpool, 
London,  Paris,  and  Havre ;  and  in  the  United 
States,  they  have  offices  in  Boston,  Providence, 
New  York,  Philadelphia,  Albany,  and  Troy."  And 
again  :  "  Orders  are  constantly  arriving  for  the  pur 
chase  of  goods,  the  collection  of  drafts,  the  transac 
tion  of  Custom  House  business,"  &c.  And  the  edi 
tor  concludes  with  the  following  postscript :  ' '  Since 
writing  the  above,  we  learn  that  arrangements  have 
been  made  by  which  a  regular  daily  line  of  the  Ex 
press  is  extended  to  Buffalo,  and  agencies  establish 
ed  in  Worcester,  Springfield,  Westfield,  Pittsfield, 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  63 

and  Hudson.  If  they  go  on  at  this  rate,  we  will 
soon  have  to  chronicle  the  establishment  of  branch 
offices  in  every  city  of  the  Union." 

The  Boston  Chronicle  was  a  little  ahead  of  the 
facts  ;  but  that  Harnden  had  projected  such  an  ex 
tension,  at  that  time,  was  corroborated  by  the  ac 
tion  which  he  took  in  the  following  month. 

Henry  Wells  (since  so  prominent  in  Express  en 
terprises,  and  now  President  of  the  American  Ex 
press  Company)  became  Harnden  &  Co.'s  Albany 
agent  about  that  time,  the  spring  of  1841,  and 
continued  so  until  the  commencement  of  the  follow 
ing  winter.  We  have  a  letter  of  Harnden's  before 
us,  dated  "8  Court  Street,  Boston,  Nov.  26,  1841," 
in  which  he  commissions  J.  W.  Lawrence,  (who 
seems  to  have  been  his  "  right-hand  man/')  to  visit 
the  agents  of  his  Boston  and  Albany  Express, 
Messrs.  Taylor,  Rice,  Leman,  Uncle  Jerry  Warri- 
ner,  and  others,  located  at  intervals  along  the  route. 
"  We  shall  endeavor,"  he  says,  uto  send  Mr.  Kins 
ley,  of  Springfield,  a  desk  to-morrow."  The  letter 
indicates  that  he  was  now  about  to  start  the  west 
ern  Express  in  earnest,  and  with  that  view  had  just 
obtained  the  requisite  railroad  facilities.  ' '  You  will 
recollect,"  he  says,  "that  we  are  to  commence  run 
ning  on  the  morning  of  Wednesday,  Dec.  1st,  1841. 
You  will  please  close  the  arrangement  with  Mr. 
Reed,  or  some  other  person  in  Albany,  for  convey 
ing  our  Express  between  Chatham  and  Albany,  by 
horse  power,  providing  he  does  not  charge  too  high. 


64  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

It  will  not  last  over  six  weeks.  We  may  have  from 
500  to  800  Ibs.  each  trip.  We  wish  to  go  through 
in  two  and  a  half  hours  or  less.  Mr.  Gray  will  in 
form  you  how  far  he  has  got  in  the  affair.  We  shall 
send  Mr.  Damon  up  the  river  to  Albany  on  Monday 
night,  so  as  to  be  ready  to  leave  as  conductor  from 
Albany  to  Boston  on  Wednesday,  Dec.  1.  He  will 
be  obliged  to  leave  Albany  for  Chatham  very  early 
in  the  morning,  so  as  to  meet  the  cars." 

Unfortunately  for  Harnden,  he  had  become  dis 
satisfied  with  the  agency  which  he  had  previously 
established  in  Albany,  and  was  determined  to  change 
it.  His  best  course  would  have  been  to  have  con 
stituted  Henry  Wells  resident  partner  at  Albany. 
Had  he  done  so,  he  would  have  gained  a  zealous  and 
indefatigable  coadjutor,  a  judicious  counsellor,  and  a 
steadfast  friend  in  every  emergency.  As  it  was,  he 
parted  with  the  ablest  man  that  he  ever  had  in  his 
employment,  and,  with  him,  lost  what  has  proved 
to  be  worth  all  the  rest  of  his  business  put  together, 
and  which  Henry  Wells  had  urged  him  to  under 
take,  viz.,  the  Express  service  West  of  New  York. 
This  fact  will  be  better  developed  when  we  come  to 
the  history  of  Wells  &  Co.  Disgusted  with  the  ir 
regularity  of  his  river  Express,  which  was  depen 
dent  upon  the  uncertain  navigation  of  the  Hudson, 
Harnden  was  ready  to  sell  it,  as  soon  as  the  Boston 
and  Albany  line  was  established.  It  was  purchased 
by  a  Mr.  Humphrey,  a  mail  agent.  This  man,  who 
was  serving  the  banks  also  on  the  route  as  their  spe- 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  65 

cial  messenger,  between  New  York  and  Buffalo,  for 
a  compensation  dependent  upon  the  amount  of  mo 
ney  conveyed  by  him  on  their  account,  feared,  very 
naturally,  that  the  Express  would  either  reduce  the 
rate  or  the  quantum  of  his  business.  He  had  a  pro 
ject  (intended,  I  believe,  by  Postmaster- General 
Crittenden  to  be  a  Post  Office  experiment,)  of  car 
rying  parcels  in  the  United  States  mail  car ;  but  it 
fell  through,  because  the  Railroad  Company  would 
not  consent  to  it,  under  the  mail  contract.  For  did 
he  ever  run  the  express. 

We  have  before  alluded  to  the  very  friendly  and 
mutually  useful  relations  which  grew  up  (mainly 
through  the  good  policy  and  public  spirit  of  Harn- 
den)  between  the  editors  of  the  daily  papers  and 
the  Express.  So  kindly  was  this  feeling  on  both 
sides,  that  it  came  nigh  to  immortalizing  a  lad  in 
the  Boston  office,  whose  alacrity  in  rushing  around 
to  the  editors'  sanctums  with  the  latest  news  from 
New  York  and  Philadelphia,  (several  hours  before 
the  mail,  and  frequently  a  whole  day  in  advance  of 
it,)  elicited  innumerable  commendations  through 
their  columns,  in  which  he  was  never  alluded  to, 
however,  by  any  other  name  than  "  Mercury  Jim" 
It  would  be  a  pleasure  to  record  that  James  Gar 
land  lived  now  to  share  in  the  prosperity  of  the  Ex 
press,  but,  poor  fellow !  he  was  murdered,  we  are 
told,  for  a  little  money  that  he  had  with  him,  on 
board  a  Mississippi  steamboat,  four  or  five  years 
ago.  His  popularity  was  at  its  zenith  in  1841. 


66  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

Joseph  L.  Stone  (now  of  the  firm  of  Stone  & 
Downer)  was  Harnden's  Boston  bookkeeper  at  that 
time;  Levi  Hodkinswas  his  driver,  and  W.  N.  Mel- 
cher  was  clerk.  Otis  Atwell  had  been  employed 
prior  to  Melcher.  John  R.  Hall,  now  agent  of  the 
Eastern  Express  Co.,  occupied  a  desk  there,  as  agent 
of  P.  C.  Hale  &  Co.'s  Eastern  Express.  The  en 
graving  which  we  have  published,  (a  fac-simile  of 
one  made  in  1841,)  represented  the  Express  office 
at  8  Court  Street  as  it  looked  at  that  time.  In  the 
latter  part  of  that  year,  or  a  month  or  two  later, 
James  M.  Thompson,  now,  and  for  years  past,  a 
proprietor  in  two  or  three  different  Express  lines, 
received  his  first  lessons  in  the  business,  as  a  clerk 
in  the  same  office.  His  discreet  address  and  habits, 
and  his  steady  application  to  his  duties,  pleased 
Harnden  so  well,  that,  in  1842,  he  promoted  him  to 
the  Springfield  agency  of  the  Boston  and  Albany 
Express. 

In  December,  1841,  Luke  Damon  and  J.  B.  H. 
Fuller  were  the  messengers  on  that  route,  and  Ma 
jor  Pullen  served  as  messenger  on  the  river  Ex 
press.  [We  would  here  repeat,  what  has  been  stat 
ed  once  or  twice  before,  that  the  messengers  were 
called  in  those  days  conductors.']  Dresser  Bacon 
was  the  driver  of  Harnden?s  wagon  in  Albany  at 
that  time.  In  1843,  Harnden  conceived  that  his 
"Western  Express,"  from  Boston  to  Albany,  would 
never  remunerate  his  firm  for  the  trouble  and  ex 
pense  of  it.  He  conceded,  however,  that  in  the 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  67 

hands  of  a  proprietor  who  knew  the  ropes,  and 
would  give  it  his  exclusive  attention,  it  might  be 
made  to  pay.  Sell  it  he  would,  however ;  and  he 
recommended  it  to  his  Springfield  agent,  as  a  good 
opportunity  for  him  to  start  in  business  upon  his 
own  account.  Thompson  regarded  it  favorably,  and 
after  due  deliberation  and  appraisement,  the  price 
agreed  upon  for  the  property  and  good- will  of  that 
important  branch  of  Harnden's  business  was  $3,000; 
terms  easy.  T.  gave  his  own  promissory  notes  for 
the  amount ;  and  at  the  end  of  the  first  year  had 
paid  them  all  with  the  profits  which  had  accrued 
during  that  period  from  what  had  then  become  well 
known  as  "Thompson  &  Co.'s  Express.'7 

It  would  have  been  far  better  for  H.  &  Co.  to 
have  held  on  to  their  Western  Express,  and  to  have 
sold  their  foreign  business  at  that  time.  With  pro 
per  management,  a  sale  of  the  latter  might  have 
been  effected,  to  one  or  more  individuals,  or  a  joint- 
stock  company,  for  at  least  $20,000 — such  was  the 
prestige  of  popularity  and  apparent  prosperity 
which  it  then  enjoyed.  Indeed,  in  those  days,  the 
name  of  Harnden  &  Co.  was  a  synonyme  for  "  orig 
inality  and  enterprise  gorgeously  rewarded.77  No 
wonder,  then,  that  Harnden  and  Brigham  were, 
themselves,  dazzled  and  engrossed  by  the  superior 
eclat  of  their  transatlantic  operations.  Taken  by 
the  hand  by  the  nabobs  of  Boston  and  Liverpool, 
and  corresponding  with  the  Rothchilds  and  Barings 
of  Europe,  they  must  have  had  old  heads  upon 


68  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

young  shoulders  not  to  have  been  proud  of  their 
position.  From  time  immemorial,  the  great  mer 
chants  of  Boston  had  been  its  demi-gods,  and  many 
an  idol  which  the  financial  revulsion  of  1857-8  has 
ground  to  powder,  was  worshiped  in  the  modern 
Athens,  in  Harnden's  day,  as  a  power  in  the  earth. 
To  be  of  any  importance  in  the  commercial  commu 
nity  of  that  city,  was  to  be  a  whole  head  and  shoul 
ders  above  mankind  in  general ;  and  when  Harnden 
&  Co.'s  name  began  to  appear  upon  First,  Second 
and  Third  Bills  of  Foreign  Exchange,  and  to  be  as 
sociated  with  that  of  the  first  banking  house  in 
Liverpool  and  London,  the  expressmen  attained 
suddenly  to  a  consequence  in  State  Street. 

More  than  gratified — elated,  perhaps  intoxicated 
— by  the  marks  of  distinguished  consideration  which 
they  received  on  that  account  from  the  merchant- 
princes  of  the  old  Bay  State  city,  Harnden  &  Co. 
became  less  zealous  in  maintaining  the  superiority 
of  their  home  Express  :  this,  too,  at  a  time  when 
the  growing  reputation  of  an  energetic  and  resolute 
competition  upon  the  New  York  and  Boston  route 
demanded  of  them  augmented,  rather  than  relaxed, 
effort.  Their  error,  however,  was  a  natural  one, 
and  more  experienced  men  than  they  might  have 
done  the  same.  Nobody  criticised,  nobody  blamed 
them,  then ;  but  their  smartness,  their  enterprise, 
and  even  their  sagacity-,  were  applauded  on  all  sides. 
They  could  have  obtained  a  score  of  partners,  and 
almost  any  amount  of  capital,  at  that  period,  had 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  69 

they  desired  it ;  but  they  would  accept  only  one, 
and  him  they  received,  not  so  much  for  the  amount 
of  capital  which  he  put  in,  ($5,000,)  as  for  his  per 
sonal  friendship  and  influence.  This  gentleman  was 
Nathaniel  Greene,  formerly  for  many  years  post 
master  of  Boston ;  and  him  they  bought  out  again, 
about  two  years  afterwards,  in  consideration  of 
transferring  to  him  the  lease  and  good- will  of  the 
Merchants'  Exchange  Reading  Room.  By  the  way, 
Greene  relinquished  the  Reading  Room  after  a  year 
or  two,  and  Edwin  P.  Whipple  became  its  lessee, 
assisted  by  John  T.  Smith  and  Robert  E.  Hudson. 
Nathaniel  Greene  subsequently  purchased  a  life  an 
nuity  of  the  Mass.  Hospital  Life  Insurance  Co.,  and 
went  to  reside  at  ease  in  Paris,  where  he  still  lives. 
Maturin  M.  Ballou,  the  well-known  author,  lec 
turer,  editor,  and  publisher,  was  a  clerk  with  Harn- 
den  &  Co.  at  that  early  period  ;  and  so  was  Oliver 
C.  Wyman,  then  better  known  than  now  as  a  hu 
morous  writer.  Wyman  served,  we  believe,  sub 
sequently,  as  New  York  agent.  In  1843,  the  em 
ployees  at  Harnden  &  Co.'s  office,  No.  3  Wall  Street, 
were,  Sweet,  clerk  ;  and  Bacon,  Putnam  and  Down 
er,  drivers.  The  latter,  we  believe,  served  then 
occasionally,  and  afterwards  regularly,  as  a  messen 
ger.  Bacon,  before  becoming  an  expressman,  had 
been  for  many  years  one  of  the  most  popular  stage 
drivers  on  the  mail  route  from  Boston  to  Worces 
ter.  Since  the  death  of  Harnden,  he  has  been  a 
carman,  employed  in  and  about  Wall  Street  and 


70  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

the  Custom  House;  and  still  is  active,  though  a  vet 
eran.  Wm.  Webb  was  Express  agent  at  N.  Haven. 

In  the  summer  of  1842,  N.  GL  Howard  (of  whom 
we  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  more  at  length  in 
a  later  portion  of  this  work)  was  employed  in 
Harnden  &  Co.'s  Albany  office.  He  has  since  dis 
tinguished  himself  in  a  business  of  his  own  crea 
tion.  Phillips  was  an  Express  agent  in  Hartford. 

The  route  of  the  Boston  and  Albany  Express  at 
that  date  was  by  the  Boston  and  Worcester  R.  R., 
and  the  Western  R.  R.,  to  Springfield,  Mass.;  thence 
by  steamboat  to  Hartford,  Ct.;  thence  to  New  Ha 
ven  by  railroad,  and  by  steamer  from  New  Haven 
to  New  York.  B.  Beecher,  Jr.,  was  the  earliest  Ex 
press  agent,  we  believe,  in  New  Haven,  Ct.  Just 
prior  to  the  operation  of  the  Hartford  and  New 
Haven  Railroad,  Babcock  &  Rose's  line  of  stages 
used  to  do  most  of  the  passenger  transportation 
between  those  places.  How  marvellously  have 
these  two  ancient  Yankee  cities  grown  in  useful 
ness,  population  and  wealth  since  the  railway  went 
into  operation  in  1839 !  Connecticut's  first  Express 
enterprise  should  date  back  to  the  momentous  oc 
casion  of  the  salvation  of  her  liberties  from  the  de 
signs  of  King  James  and  Sir  Edmund  Andros ;  and 
it  should  be  considered,  perhaps,  that  her  first 
11  valuable  parcel"  was  the  precious  Charter,  which 
her  gallant  and  patriotic  messenger  carried  (no 
"  common  carrier"  that!)  and  deposited  safely  in  the 
Oak.  Then,  and  up  to  the  period  we  speak  of, 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  1 

Connecticut  had  been  an  important  portion  of  New 
England,  but  it  was  reserved  for  railroads  and  Ex 
press  lines  to  develope  the  inventive  genius  and 
business  powers  of  her  industrious  and  intelligent 
people,  and  to  render  her  of  incalculable  benefit  to 
every  section  of  the  Union. 

Before  the  railroad  from  Hartford  to  Springfield, 
Mass.,  was  operated,  Chester  W.  Chapin  used  to 
run  a  line  of  stages   on   that  route.     They  were 
handsome  and  commodious,  and  no  better  teams 
ever  pawed  the  ground  at  a  hotel  door  ;  but  we 
doubt  hugely  whether  our  friend  Chapin,  with  all 
his  well-merited  popularity,  could  satisfy  the  trav 
elling  public  of  Springfield  now,  with  any  horses  of 
less  power  than  a  locomotive,  or  any  facilities  of 
transportation  short  of  the  Western  Railroad,  of 
which  he  is  the  very  able  and  worthy  President. 

Springfield  must  have  greatly  changed  within 
his  memory.  It  is  a  very  old  place,  comparatively, 
and,  time  out  of  mind,  has  been  the  pride  of  Mas 
sachusetts,  on  account  of  its  picturesque  situation, 
its  numerous  local  beauties  and  social  attractions, 
and  the  sterling  characteristics  of  its  people.  But 
since  the  completion  of  the  Western  Railroad,  it 
has  become  vastly  more  celebrated  and  important 
than  ever  before.  We  shall  have  occasion  to  allude 
to  it  again,  in  speaking  of  Thompson  &  Co.'s  Ex 
press. 

Chapin,  Damon  &  Co.  formerly  run  a  line  of 
stages  on  the  route  Forth  and  South,  and  Daniel  P. 


72  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

Kingsley  East  and  West.  The  Railroad  from  Hart 
ford  to  Springfield  was  not  in  operation  until  1843. 
The  Boston,  Providence  and  Stonington  line,  to 
which  the  Harnden  Express  has  faithfully  adhered 
from  the  outset  in  1839  to  the  present  time,  was,  at 
a  still  earlier  period,  quite  popular  with  the  public. 
As  long  ago  as  1828,  there  were  two  very  good 
boats — at  least  they  were  so  regarded  at  the  time — 
called  the  " Connecticut"  and  the  "Fulton,"  plying 
between  Stonington  and  New  York.  Some  years 
before,  if  we  are  not  misinformed,  they  served  Nor 
wich  and  New  Haven  also.  The  following  named 
boats  plied  between  Providence  (or  Stonington)  and 
New  York:  the  Franklin  in  1828,  the  President  in 
1829,  the  Boston  and  Providence  in  1830  to  1832, 
the  Massachusetts  in  1835,  the  Rhode  Island  and 
Narraganset  in  1836,  the  Mohegan  in  1837,  the 
Providence  in  1839,  the  Lexington  in  1839-40,  the 
Knickerbocker  in  1846,  the  Governor  and  the  State 
of  Maine  in  1847-8.  The  Cornelius  Yanderbilt  and 
Commodore  were  put  on  in  1849.  The  latter  boat 
now  plies  upon  the  North  River.  The  elegant  and 
commodious  steamer  Plymouth  Rock  was  put  on 
the  line,  entirely  new,  in  1854.  She  is  commanded 
by  a  very  worthy  and  accomplished  navigator,  Capt. 
J.  Stone.  Mr.  Bales  is  her  present  clerk.  The 
Cornelius  Yanderbilt  (W.  H.  Frazee,  commander, 
A.  Foster,  clerk,)  is  a  remarkably  staunch  boat,  and 
her  captain  and  crew  are  not  surpassed  in  their  vo 
cation  the  world  over. 


'V     OF  THE  \ 

UNIVERSITY    1 
OF  ,y 

«^/ 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  <O 

\ 

The  Boston  and  Providence  Railroad  superinten 
dent  is  the  indefatigable  Daniel  Nason,  who  conducts 
it  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the  public.  The  su 
perintendent  of  the  Providence  and  Stonington 
Railroad,  A.  S.  Mathews,  has  distinguished  himself 
by  his  judicious  and  faithful  attention  to  his  duties. 
Some  of  the  very  best  conductors  in  the  country  are 
employed  upon  the  line. 

At  that  date,  William  F.  Harnden  was  upon  the 
top-wave  of  popularity ;  but  what  are  splendid  means 
and  wide-spread  reputation  to  a  man  if  the  still 
greater  source  of  enjoyment,  good  health,  is  denied 
to  him.  Though  constrained  by  his  failing  strength 
to  ride  to  his  place  of  business  in  his  carriage,  Harn 
den  still  labored  at  his  headwork  w^ith  unabated  zeal. 
His  Boston,  New  York,  and  Philadelphia  Express, 
and  his  Foreign  Express,  were  not  his  sole  care. 
He  conceived  that  his  influence  in  Europe  could  not 
be  better  fostered  and  extended  than  by  Harnden 
&  Co.'s  undertaking  to  afford  the  most  sure  and  sat 
isfactory  facilities  for  the  emptying  of  the  overflow 
ing  population  of  the  Old  into  the  fertile  Western 
valleys  of  the  New  World.  When  Henry  Wells  had 
urged  upon  him,  a  year  or  two  before,  the  impor 
tance  of  extending  his  line  from  Albany  to  Buffalo, 
and  thence  Westward,  Harnden  replied,  "  Put  a 

P  people  there,  and  my  Express  shall  soon  follow." 
He  did  not  want  to  waste  time  to  court  the  patron 
age  of  unpopulated  prairies;  and  it  was  this  thought, 
probably,  that  was  the  seed  of  his  emigration  pro- 


74  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

ject  at  a  later  period.  With  more  experience,  he 
might  have  realized  the  fact,  that  Express  facilities 
may  lead  as  well  as  follow  population. 

Harnden  desired,  with  all  his  heart,  to  have  the 
great  West  traversed  by  railroads  in  every  direc 
tion.  He  saw  that  the  "  lay  of  the  land"  offered  no 
such  difficulties  to  their  construction  as  had  been 
experienced  among  the  rocks  and  hills  of  New  En 
gland;  and  with  comparatively  small  expense  the 
immense  distances,  which  appalled  those  who  were 
looking  wistfully  to  the  productive  and  easily  culti 
vated  western  prairies,  could  be  overcome,  and  the 
vast  Valley  of  the  Mississippi  be  rendered  accessi 
ble  to  the  enterprising  spirits  of  the  crowded  East 
ern  States,  and  the  starving  millions  of  Europe. 
There  were  no  exorbitant  prices  to  be  paid  for 
"  rights  of  way,"  no  impediment  to  obtaining  mate 
rials  for  construction:  the  only  difficulty  was  to  pro 
cure  laborers.  Great  Britain  was  rich  in  its  numer 
ous  gangs  of  experienced  navvies,  thoroughly  ex 
perienced  in  excavating,  banking,  tunnelling,  bridg 
ing,  &c.;  but  the  demand  for  similar  labor,  in  this 
country,  vastly  exceeded  the  supply.  The  more 
that  Harnden  thought  of  this,  (and  the  subject  ex 
ercised  his  mind  for  several  months,  at  the  period 
of  which  we  are  writing,)  the  more  confirmed  he 
became  in  the  desire  to  be  himself  the  means  of 
bringing  into  the  United  States  the  requisite  labor- 
force  from  the  surplus  of  Great  Britain  and  the 
Continent.  Up  to  that  time,  there  had  been  no 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  75 

organized  and  well-regulated  system  of  emigration. 
If  a  shipload  of  foreigners  arrived,  the  chances  were 
that  they  were  the  dregs  of  a  European  poor-house, 
with  neither  the  inclination  nor  the  physical  ability 
for  labor;  but  if,  on  the  contrary,  they  were  of  the 
better  class  of  emigrants,  able  and  anxious  to  go 
West  and  work,  there  were  many  hindrances  to 
their  getting  thither,  and  little  or  no  means  of  com 
municating  with,  and  remitting  money  to,  the  friends 
whom  they  had  left  behind  them,  in  the  old  coun 
try.  Wm.  F.  Harnden  determined  to  remedy,  if 
possible,  all  these  difficulties.  He  had  established, 
as  we  have  said,  his  Express  offices  in  the  principal 
cities  of  England  and  France.  He  lost  no  time  in 
doing  the  like  in  Scotland,  Ireland,  and  Germany, 
and  so  arranged  it  that  Harnden  &  Co.,  at  all  their 
offices  in  the  United  States,  could  make  bills  of  ex 
change  either  upon  their  foreign  agents  or  upon  first 
class  bankers  in  all  those  cities,  for  any  amount, 
from  one  pound,  upwards,  for  the  accommodation 
of  emigrants,  who,  having  settled  and  made  a  little 
money,  desired  to  remit  it  safely  and  expeditiously 
to  friends  at  home,  to  pay  their  passage  to  America. 
Having  made  this  arrangement  widely  known, 
the  effect  of  it  was  soon  manifested,  agreeably  to 
Harnden's  expectation.  The  Irish  and  German 
residents  (but  especially  the  former,  who  are  more 
impulsive)  began  to  buy  the  bills,  and  send  home 
to  their  friends  to  join  them,  in  -this  land  of  plenty. 
The  facility  of  remittance  thus  provided  by  Earn- 


76  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

den  &  Co.  (and  so  extensively  imitated  by  a  host  of 
small  bankers  since  that  time)  gave  a  very  decided 
impetus  to  emigration  from  Great  Britain.  It  was 
precisely  what  was  wanted  to  give  it  a  start.  Harn- 
den's  next  move  was  to  arrange  with  Enoch  Train 
&  Co.,  the  large  packet-ship  owners  in  Boston,  for 
the  cheap  conveyance  of  emigrants  from  Liverpool. 
His  next  step  was  to  contract  with  the  owners  of 
the  numerous  lines  upon  the  N.  Y.  and  Erie  Canal 
for  the  exclusive  use  of  all  their  passenger  boats. 
It  was  an  immense  monopoly,  but  never  abused, 
and  saved  the  emigrants  and  other  passengers  from 
being  confused  by  opposition  lines,  and  fleeced  by 
runners  and  other  land-sharks,  who,  prior  to  that 
time,  used  to  fatten  upon  the  plunder  of  ignorant 
travellers. 

Harnden  was  almost  as  great  a  believer  in  the 
advantages  of  publicity  as  is  the  very  liberal,  reso 
lute,  enterprising,  and  successful  Mr.  Robert  Bon- 
ner,  of  the  "  New  York  Ledger/7  who  has  wrought 
so  remarkable  a  revolution  in  advertising  within  the 
last  year  or  two.  Ex.  gr. — Young  Smith,  in  H.  & 
Co.'s  Boston  office,  received  an  order  from  Nat. 
Greene,  at  that  time,  to  get  a  thousand  white  cards 
printed,  relative  to  the  enterprise;  the  size  of  them 
to  be  somewhat  smaller  than  his  hand.  ' '  His  hand !" 
exclaimed  Harnden,  when  he  heard  of  the  order, 
"have  them  a  foot  square,  five  thousand  of  them, 
and  the  color  red.  If  a  thing  is  worth  doing  at  all, 
it  is  worth  doing  thoroughly."  Then  writing  down 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  77 

the  order  explicitly,  he  handed  it  to  Smith;  and  in 
two  weeks  afterwards  there  was  hardly  a  hotel, 
steamboat,  or  depot  in  the  United  States  in  which 
was  not  seen  one  or  more  of  those  large  showy  flam 
ing-red  placards,  announcing,  and  keeping  before 
the  people,  the  admirable  arrangement  which  Harn 
den  &  Co.  had  consummated  for  the  passage  of  emi 
grants  from  Liverpool  to  New  York,  Buffalo,  Chi 
cago,  &c.  A  thousand  or  more,  also,  were  conspic 
uously  posted  at  the  railway  stations,  and  other 
appropriate  places,  in  England,  Ireland,  Scotland, 
and  on  the  Continent.  Harnden  employed,  too, 
numerous  passenger  agents  in  Europe,  and  used 
every  possible  means  to  make  the  laboring  class — 
and  especially  those  who  could  be  serviceable  in  the 
construction  of  railroads — appreciate  that  it  was  for 
their  interest  to  come  and  settle  in  the  Western 
world.  Probably  no  one  man  ever  did  more  to 
make  the  resources  of  the  West,  and  the  induce 
ments  to  emigrate  thither,  extensively  appreciated 
in  Great  Britain  than  William  F.  Harnden.  After 
his  death,  his  partners  were  reproached  that  in  their 
zeal  to  obtain  passengers,  they  suffered  their  foreign 
agents  to  over-rate  the  facilities  and  rewards  of  emi 
gration;  but  that  charge,  whether  true  or  false,  was 
never  made  against  Harnden  himself.  He  knew 
that  the  Labor  of  a  country  was  her  most  certain 
source  of  wealth,  and  never  was  this  unerring  law 
of  political  economy  more  manifest  than  in  the 
United  States.  On  the  one  hand,  he  saw  his  native 


78  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

state  of  Massachusetts,  without  either  agricultural 
or  mining  advantages,  made  rich  by  the  industry  of 
her  sons  and  daughters;  on  the  other,  he  beheld  im 
mense  prairies  in  the  Western  states  and  territories 
yielding  no  support  to  man,  but  ready  to  fill  millions 
of  barns  and  granaries  to  overflowing  with,  the  abun 
dance  of  the  earth,  as  soon  as  the  hand  of  labor 
should  come  to  develope  their  endless  resources.  It 
was  with  the  most  heartfelt  gratification,  then,  that 
Harnden  realized  the  entire  success  of  what  may  be 
not  inaptly  called  his  Foreign  Passenger  Express. 
At  the  close  of  the  year  1844,  that  small-sized,  fra 
gile  man,  whose  constitution,  never  healthy,  was 
now  wasted  by  the  consumption  which  was  rapidly 
measuring  the  little  remnant  of  life  yet  left  to  him, 
had  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  he  had  been 
the  direct  means  of  bringing  from  the  Old  World 
more  than  100,000  hard-handed  laborers,  and  de 
positing  them  in  that  now  magnificent  portion  of 
our  country  where  their  work  was  most  wanted,  for 
the  cultivation  of  the  soil,  and  the  construction  of 
railways  and  canals.  He  had  no  bodily  strength, 
himself,  for  that  sublime  work  which  has  since  made 
the  West  an  incalculably  productive  farm,  traversed 
in  all  directions  by  over  ten  thousand  miles  of  rail 
road,  and  affording  happy  homes  to  millions  of  peo 
ple;  but  yet  (and  it  was  his  consolation  in  the  last 
hours  of  his  brief,  but  active  and  eventful  career) 
he  had  brought  more  muscle  to  that  prodigious  la 
bor  than  any  Hercules  among  them  all. 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  79 

But  great  as  was  the  moral  triumph  of  Harnden 
&  Co.'s  foreign  operations,  they  were  not  remuner 
ative  pecuniarily.  Their  agencies,  and  other  ma 
chinery,  abroad,  were  expensive,  and  it  is  possible 
that  the  disbursements  might  have  been  less  lavish, 
with  no  detriment  to  their  efficiency;  but  Harnden 
was  liberal  in  everything,  and  it  afforded  him  pleas 
ure  to  have  all  in  his  employ  share  his  prosperity. 
The  idea  seems  to  be  regarded  as  exploded  in  these 
days,  but  it  was  Harnden's  opinion  that  the  surest 
means  to  render  his  men  zealous  in  the  work,  and 
honest  under  every  temptation,  was  to  pay  them 
generously  for  their  services.  Governed  by  this 
rule  of  action,  he  certainly  succeeded  in  obtaining 
the  hearty  co-operation  of  all  his  employees — agents, 
clerks,  messengers,  and  drivers — and  was  singularly 
fortunate  in  never  losing  a  dollar  by  any  want  of 
fidelity  on  their  part.  In  their  respective  depart 
ments,  nearly  all  of  them  were  remarkable  for  abil 
ity.  It  was,  indeed,  a  period  in  which  the  Express 
business — or  perhaps  we  should  say  its  projectors 
and  managers — had  infused  some  of  their  own  elec 
trical  vitality  into  every  man  in  their  employ.  Un 
doubtedly,  the  work  itself  being  novel,  exciting  and 
popular,  was  well  calculated  to  create,  and  keep 
alive,  a  strong  esprit  du  corps.  The  value  arid  im 
portance  of  that  sentiment,  however  lightly  it  may 
be  esteemed  in  the  present  well-established  condi 
tion  of  the  Express  service,  (to  which,  by  the  way, 
we,  ourselves,  consider  it  as  essential  as  ever,)  were 


80  EXPRESS-IM  STORY. 

not  overlooked  by  Harnden;  and  so  successfully  did 
he  encourage  and  foster  it,  that  his  men  would  make 
any  sacrifice  of  personal  ease  and  necessary  rest  to 
please  him;  and  though  it  is  now  thirteen  years 
since  he  died,  there  is  not  one  of  them  living  who 
does  not  speak  of  him  with  affectionate  regard. 

In  the  summer  of  1842  or  743,  L.  W.  Winches 
ter  (now  and  for  some  years  past  the  agent)  was  a 
clerk  in  Harnden  &  Co.'s  New  York 'office,  No,.  3 
Wall  Street.  He  had  previously  been  engaged  in 
similar  business.  In  a  year  or  two,  the  office  was 
removed  to  No.  6  Wall  Street,  Luke  Damon  acting 
as  agent  of  the  Eastern  business,  and  Winchester 
as  agent  of  the  Philadelphia  Express.  In  the  win 
ter  of  1843-4,  Harnden  &  Co.  had  a  disagreement 
with  the  Camden  and  Amboy  R.  R.  Co.,  and  were 
easily  induced  to  make  a  sale  of  their  Philadelphia 
Express  to  Geo.  Hatch  and  Geo.  0.  Bartlett. 

We  have  already  said  that  H.  &  Co.  under-rated 
the  value  of  their  home  Expresses,  so  full  were 
their  minds  of  the  superior  magnitude  of  their  for 
eign  operations.  They  were  receiving,  and  sending 
to  the  West,  scores  of  ship-loads  of  emigrants,  and 
actually  had  under  their  control  the  bulk  of  the  for 
eign  passenger  business.  The  senior  partner  used 
to  say  to  his  friends,  that  when  his  plans  were  per 
fected,  every  emigrant  arriving  in  New  York  and 
Boston  would  be  consigned  to  Harnden  &  Co. 
(  Geo.  Hatch  &  Co.,  failing  to  comply  with  the 
terms  of  their  purchase,  the  Philadelphia  Express 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  81 

reverted,  after  the  lapse  of  a  few  months,  to  Harn- 
den  &  Co.,  who  run  it  for  a  time,  and  then  sold  it 
to  Johnston  Livingston  and  William  A.  Livingston. 
In  a  month  or  two,  the  latter  sold  out  to  the  for 
mer,  and  went  to  Albany,  where  he  engaged  in  the 
Express  business.  We  shall  have  occasion  to  allude 
to  him  in  another  part  of  this  work. 

Livingston  &  Co.'s  New  York  and  Philadelphia 
Express  remained  in  the  hands  of  Johnston  Livings 
ton  for  several  years,  until,  indeed,  it  resumed  its 
original  name. 

James  Stuart,  then  a  lad,  was  employed  in  the 
New  York  office  of  Hani  den  &  -Co.  at  that  time, 
and  has  continued  in  it  ever  since. 

In  the  winter  of  1844-5,  it  became  evident  that 
Wm.  F.  Harnden  could  not  survive  until  spring.  In 
vain  had  he  sought  relief  in  a  more  genial  Southern 
clime ;  vain  was  the  skill  of  the  best  physicians — im 
potent  to  save  him  were  the  incessant  attentions  of 
his  affectionate  wife  and  friends.  He  met  his  fate 
firmly,  on  the  14th  day  of  January,  1845,  aged 
thirty-three,  and  was  buried  at  Mount  Auburn,  near 
Boston.  A  simple  marble  monument  marks  the 
spot  where  his  remains  were  deposited.  Besides 
his  widow  and  children,  there  was  a  large  circle  of 
friends  who  sincerely  lamented  his  premature  death. 
He  had  been  a  dutiful  son,  a  tender  husband,  and  a 
kind  father;  a  pleasant  associate,  an  agreeable  neigh 
bor,  and  a  good  citizen.  Still  more,  he  was  a  lib 
eral,  yet  judicious,  friend  to  the  poor. 


82  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

His  European  affairs  were  a  source  of  anxiety  to 
Harnden  upon  his  death-bed.  His  only  desire  to 
live  appeared  to  be  that  he  might  see  his  foreign 
enterprise  attain  to  a  good  and  permanent  basis. 
Possibly,  he  hoped  to  put  his  Express  system  into 
operation  upon  one  or  more  of  the  railways  in  En 
gland,  but  probably  the  one  grand  purpose  and  dar 
ling  object  of  his  heart  was  the  monopoly  of  the 
emigration  business. 

It  was  the  popular  notion,  at  his  decease,  that  he 
had  accumulated  wealth;  but  the  fact  was,  that  he 
died  poor.  His  personal  and  family  expenses  had 
been  large,  and  he  had  been  a  liberal  giver.  His 
European  business  had  required  an  immense  out 
lay,  and  he  had  little  or  no  return  for  his  invest 
ments.  At  his  death,  it  devolved  upon  his  partner, 
Dexter  Brigham,  Jr.,  who  soon  associated  with  him 
self  several  gentlemen  of  ability,  experience,  and 
capital,  viz:  Robert  Osgood,  I.  C.  Kendall,  and  John 
W.  Fenno.  It  was  then  a  distinct  property  from 
the  rest  of  Harnden  &  Co.'s  business,  which  consist 
ed  of  their  Express  between  New  York  and  Boston. 
In  about  a  year  after  Wm.  F.  Harnden's  death,  the 
home  Express  was  disposed  of  to  Messrs.  Brigham, 
Blake,  Cooledge,  and  Wheeler.  At,  or  nearly  at, 
the  same  time,  Kendall  retired  from  the  European 
house,  while  it  still  appeared  to  be  in  the  full  tide 
of  prosperity,  though  it  no  longer  retained  any  of 
its  original  Express  character.  Blake,  also,  retired 
from  the  Express  firm  here,  and  was  succeeded  by 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  83 

C.  H.  Valentine,  who  adhered  to  it  about  two  years. 
Dexter  Brigham,  Jr.,  sold  out  in  the  meantime. 
Subsequently,  Cooledge  and  Valentine  induced 
Wheeler  to  sell  his  interest  to  them.  In  1850,  or 
about  that  time,  J.  M.  Thompson,  of  Springfield, 
Mass.,  purchased  Valentine's  interest;  and  Johnston 
Livingston  and  L.  W.  Winchester  negotiated  for  the 
purchase  of  Cooledge  7s.  /  The  result  of  it  all  was, 
however,  that  the  Harnd^n  Express  between  Bos 
ton  and  New  York  became  the  property  of  J.  M. 
Thompson,  Johnston  Livingston,  S.  M.  Shoemaker, 
E.  S.  Sanford,  and  L.  W.  Winchester,  jointly,  under 
the  style  of  Thompson,  Livingston  &  Co.  Winches 
ter  was  constituted  manager  of  the  New  York  of 
fice.  C.  H.  Valentine  afterwards  started  an  Express 
at  St.  Louis,  but  for  a  year  or  two  past  has  resided 
in  this  city,  as  New  York  superintendent  of  a  large 
Western  and  South  Western  freight  forwarding 
business. 

In  the  meantime,  Messrs.  Brigham,  Fenno,  and 
Osgood  remained  in  the  foreign  business,  under  the 
style  of  Harnden  &  Co.  It  is  only  because  it  was 
so  styled  that  we  again  allude  to  it,  for  it  was  no 
longer  anything  more  than  a  banking  and  commis 
sion  house.  Our  old  Express  friend,  Luke  Damon, 
however,  was  a  clerk  in  their  Liverpool  counting- 
room,  as  late,  we  believe,  as  1849  or  '50.  In  1851, 
some  ill-advised  operations  in  building  and  starting 
a  line  of  steamships  between  Boston  and  England, 
and  investments  in  East  Boston  stock,  crippled 


84  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

them  completely,  and  they  were  obliged  to  cave  in. 
The  failure  was  for  a  very  heavy  amount,  and  the 
dividend  to  creditors  was  only  nominal. 

Thompson,  Livingston,  Sanford,  and  Shoemaker 
were  all  experienced,  energetic  and  shrewd  Express 
managers,  and  Winchester  had  been  familiar  with 
the  office  routine  and  customers  of  Harnden  &  Co. 
for  more  than  seven  years.  With  such  a  force  be 
hind  it,  the  Harnden  Express  once  more  offered  a 
strong  competition  to  the  powerful  firm  of  Adams 
&Co. 

In  1851,  James  De  Martin,  a  merchant  in  Savan 
nah,  Gra.,  became  associated  with  L.  W.  Winches 
ter  in  a  semi- weekly  Express  between  New  York 
and  that  city,  which  was  dispatched  regularly  by  S. 
L.  Mitchell's  steamships.  Soon  afterwards  Johnston 
Livingston  obtained  an  interest  in  it,  and  the  firm 
became  Livingston,  Winchester  &  Co.  It  proved  a 
success,  and  its  operation  rapidly  extended  to  Co 
lumbus,  Macon,  Montgomery,  &c.  Nor  has  it  ceas 
ed  to  grow  in  usefulness  and  importance. 

Shortly  afterwards,  the  Harnden  Express  propri 
etors  started  an  Express  between  New  York  and 
New  Orleans  and  Mobile,  by  steamships,  in  opposi 
tion  to  Adams  &  Co.'s  business  in  that  quarter, 
which  had  been  commenced  a  year  or  two  before 
by  Stimson  &  Co.  Thompson,  Livingston  &  Co. 
established  agencies  in  New  Orleans,  Mobile  arid 
Texas,  and  their  Express  became  very  useful  to  the 
merchants  of  the  South  Western  states.  In  1852, 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  85 

they  removed  from  No.  6  Wall  Street  to  No.  74 
Broadway. 

The  Harnden  Express  had  never  been  in  so  pros 
perous  a  condition  as  it  was  at  the  time,  when,  by 
a  mutually  advantageous  arrangement  between  its 
proprietors  (Thompson,  Livingston  &  Co.)  and  the 
proprietors  of  Adams  &  Co.'s  Express,  Kinsley  & 
Co.'s  Express,  Livingston's  Philadelphia  Express, 
Hoey  &  Co.'s  Charleston  Express,  and  Livingston, 
Winchester  &  Co.'s  Savannah  Express,  the  several 
interests  were  consolidated  in  one  joint-stock,  under 
the  title  of  uThe  Adams  Express  Company."  This 
important  union  was  executed  July  1,  1854,  and 
went  into  effect  the  same  day. 

Notwithstanding  this  consolidation  of  proprietary 
interests,  the  Harnden  Express  continued  to  have 
its  own  routes  and  offices,  the  same  as  before;  and 
in  the  performance  of  its  ordinary  business,  it  is  still 
entirely  independent  of  the  associate  companies.  In 
December,  1854,  Henry  B.  Plant,  who  had  been 
with  Adams  &  Co.  many  years,  went  out  to  Georgia 
to  assume  the  superintendence  of  the  Harnden  Ex 
press  business  and  interests  in  that  portion  of  the 
country.  The  Harnden  lines  of  Express,  at  pre 
sent,  are  as  follows: 

From  New  York  to  Boston,  daily  P.M.  via  steam 
boats  to  Stonington,  thence  by  railroad  to  Provi 
dence  and  Boston. 

From  New  York  to  Philadelphia,  twice  daily,  via 
Camden  and  Amboy  R.  R. 


86  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

Semi- weekly,  by  Mitchell's  steamships,  to  Savan 
nah,  Ga.,*  thence  daily  by  railroad  to  Augusta,  Ma- 
con,  Columbus,  Atlanta;  Chattanooga  and  Nashville, 
Tenn.;  Albany,  Ga.;  and  Opelika,  Ala. 

Joining  the  Adams  Express  line  at  Atlanta,  Ga., 
it  runs  on  the  same  route  with  it,  for  all  points 
West,  in  North  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Tennessee, 
and  Arkansas.  From  Opelika  (a  junction  on  the 
Montgomery  and  West  Point,  Ala.,  Railroad)  the 
Harnden  Express,  in  company  with  the  Adams  Ex 
press,  continues  on  to  Montgomery,  Mobile  and  New 
Orleans. 

The  very  worthy  and  popular  Capt.  W.  B.  Law- 
ton  is  its  agent  in  the  long-established  office  in  Pro 
vidence,  R.  I.  A.  Sprague  is  the  assiduous  and"  ac 
ceptable  manager  of  the  Boston  office,  No.  8  Court 
Street,  under  the  direction  of  J.  M.  Thompson. 
The  Stonington  agent  is  J.  H.  Palmer,  a  valuable 
man  at  that  point.  The  well-known  Express  pro 
prietor,  N.  G.  Howard,  acts  as  the  agent  of  the 
Harnden  Express,  also,  in  Philadelphia.  The  ver.y 
efficient  agent  at  Savannah,  Ga.,  S.  0.  Potts,  has 
been  in  the  Express  business,  in  that  state,  about 
five  years.  He  was  formerly  agent  at  Macon,  Ga., 
where  here  mained  until  promoted  to  succeed  De 
Martin,  who  was  about  removing  to  the  home  of  his 
family  in  Bridgeport,  Ct.  P.  U.  Blodgett  is  now 
agent  at  Macon.  The  Columbus,  Ga.,  agent,  Capt. 
S.  H.  Hill,  (one  of  the  most  active  and  reliable  busi 
ness  men  in  the  Southern  country,)  has  contributed 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  87 

largely  to  the  popularity  of  the  Express  in  that 
thriving  city  and  its  vicinity.  J.  E.  Simpson  is  the 
agent  at  that  important  point,  New  Orleans.  J.  K. 
Holt,  the  agent  at  Nashville,  Tenn.,  is  a  thorough 
bred  expressman,  and  much  liked.  N.  Marony  is 
the  very  acceptable  agent  at  Montgomery,  Ala. 

H.  B.  Plant,  the  superintendent  of  all  these,  and 
many  other  Southern  agencies  of  the  Harnden  Ex 
press,  makes  his  head-quarters  in  the  beautiful  me 
tropolis  of  Georgia,  Augusta,  where  his  family  has 
resided  for  some  years;  but  he  devotes  the  most  of 
his  time  to  travelling  over  the  various  lines  of  rail 
roads  used  by  the  Express,  and  is  continually  en 
gaged  in  supervising,  perfecting,  and  extending  its 
operations.  In  this  arduous  work — a  duty  requir 
ing  both  mental  and  physical  vigor — Plant  has  been 
eminently  successful,  illustrating  the  old  phrase  of 
"  the  right  man  in  the  right  place" 

The  very  accurate  picture  of  the  "Harnden  Ex 
press  Office,  74  Broadway,  New  York,"  by  the  accom 
plished  artists,  1ST.  Orr  &  Co.,  which  we  publish  in 
this  connection,  will  serve  very  well  to  contrast  with 
the  old  cut,  inserted  in  the  first  part  of  this  history, 
showing  how  Harnden's  office,  at  8  Court  Street, 
Boston,  looked  in  1841.  It  will  illustrate  not  only 
the  improvement  which  has  been  made  in  the  Ex 
press  business,  but  the  progress,  also,  of  the  goodly 
art  of  wood-engraving  during  the  last  seventeen 
years. 

The  New  York  office  occupies  two  stories.     Its 


88  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

front  upon  Broadway  is  about  25  or  30  feet.  It  is 
very  deep,  extending  clear  through  to  Few  Street, 
where  its  numerous  fine  wagons  receive  and  unload 
the  bulk  of  their  freight.  On  one  side  of  the  first 
floor  are  the  desks  and  office  of  the  National  Ex 
press.  The  Hope  Express,  also,  has  accommoda 
tions  there. 

The  basement  floor  is  full  as  useful  as  the  room 
represented  in  the  engraving,  being  devoted  to  the 
reception  and  manipulation  of  the  innumerable 
boxes,  barrels,  bales,  bundles,  parcels,  and  packages 
of  every  imaginable  variety,  describable  and  inde 
scribable,  which  pass'  under  the  careful  eye  of  the 
experienced  freight  clerk,  James  Stuart,  or  that 
man-of-all-work,  (and  handy  at  anything  in  the  Ex 
press  line,)  Alex.  Tully. 

Greo.  Knower,  the  excellent  cashier,  was  employ 
ed  by  the  foreign  house  of  Harnden  &  Co.  from 
1849  to  1851,  when  he  changed  that  for  his  present 
employment.  Tillinghast  has  been  in  the  business 
ten  years  or  more,  and  John  Black  for  about  the 
same  period.  Sol.  Chamberlain  has  served  faithfully 
and  well  as  messenger  between  New  York  and  Bos 
ton  for  more  than  ten  years,  and  is  highly  esteemed 
for  promptness  and  reliability. 

As  a  whole,  the  office  is  remarkably  well  appoint 
ed  in  all  its  departments,  and  judiciously  conducted 
throughout. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  EXPRESS  BUSINESS. 


ADAMS  &  Co.  THE  SECOND  EXPRESS.  HARNDEN  &  Go's  EARLIEST  COMPETI 
TORS.  THEIR  VARIOUS  ENTSRPRISES  AND  PROGRESS.  STIMSON  &  Co's  NEW 
ORLEANS  EXPRESS.  HOEY  &  Go's  CHARLESTON  EXPRESS.  CONSOLIDATION 

AND  CREATION  OP  THE  ADAMS    EXPRESS  COMPANY — ITS  EXTENSION.      FREE 
MAN  &  Go's  CALIFORNIA  EXPRESS. 

WHEN  we  consider  the  vast  extension  of  the  Ex 
press  service,  both  in  area  and  importance,  since 
the  death  of  Harnden,  we  cannot  but  wonder  that 
so  gigantic  a  growth  should  have  sprung  from  the 
enterprise  and  persevering  energy  of  a  few  men 
who  began  the  good  work,  with  neither  capital  nor 
rich  relations,  nor  high  social  position  to  back  them. 
Indeed,  more  than  one  of  them  had  not  enjoyed 
even  the  advantages  of  a  first-rate  common  school 
education.  Several  of  the  most  successful  com 
menced  their  business  with  scarcely  a  dollar  to  their 
names,  and  all  have  to  congratulate  themselves  that 
they  have  attained  to  their  present  standing,  not  by 
any  adventitious  aids,  but  solely  by  their  own  per 
sonal  talents,  united  to  the  most  indefatigable  appli 
cation  to  the  work.  The  labor*  has  not  all  been 
manual,  as  many  imagine;  they  have  performed  a 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  91 

to  the  landlord.  The  characteristics  which  we  have 
oamed,  being  accompanied  by  a  frank,  cordial  man 
ner,  a  gentlemanly  address,  and  an  obvious  hearty 
desire  to  make  all  around  him  quite  comfortable, 
admirably  fitted  Adams  for  the  charge  of  a  first- 
class  hotel,  which  the  "  Lafayette"  was  at  that  time; 
but  his  ambition  did  not  turn  in  that  direction.  The 
celebrated  inn  was  the  starting  place  of  several  stage 
lines,  and  their  stable  was  directly  in  rear  of  the 
house.  Staging  was  a  very  important  business  in 
those  days,  as  we  have  said;  and  as  the  lines  from 
the  hotel  connected  Boston  with  the  great  cities  of 
New  York  and  Albany,  they  stood  very  high  in  the 
esteem  of  young  Adams.  It  was  a  common  thing, 
in  those  days,  for  a  driver  to  own  his  team,  and 
this  fact  contributed  not  a  little  to  the  respectability 
of  the  occupation.  The  Stage  Company  at  the 
Lafayette  Hotel  carried  the  U.  S.  Mail,  and  was  rich 
in  commodious  and  elegant  coaches,  and  two  hundred 
of  the  handsomest  and  most  spirited  horses  that 
ever  kicked  up  a  dust  on  the  Dedham  turnpike. 
The  drivers  were  substantial,  solid  men;  both  popu 
lar  and  respected;  and  Alvin  Adams  fancied  that 
he  would  like  to  be  one  of  them.  He  had  always 
been  a  lover  of  good  horses,  and  to  drive  four  in 
hand,  with  a  fine  coach-load  of  passengers,  and  the 
U.  S.  Mail  behind,  was  no  less  an  honor  than  it  was 
a  pleasure.  He  probably  calculated,  too,  that  he 
might  some  day  be  the  proprietor  of  a  line  of  his 
own.  His  predilection  for  the  box,  however,  was 


92  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

successfully  combated  by  the  stage  agent,  who  insist 
ed  upon  it  that  he  was  made  for  better  things.  He 
then  betook  himself  to  a  mercantile  occupation, 
and  became  either  as  an  employee,  or,  upon  his  own 
account,  a  family  grocer  or  dealer  in  provisions. 
Subsequently  he  was  a  produce  merchant,  and  en 
joyed  a  term  of  prosperity.  Whoever  is  familiar 
with  the  latter  business  knows  how  liable  it  is  to 
extreme  fluctuations,  by  which  fortunes  are  made 
or  lost  in  a  single  month.  Adams  enjoyed  no  im 
munity  from  the  reverses  by  which  his  neighbors 
were  suffering.  He  failed,  and  lost  every  dollar. 
When  the  tide  of  fortune  again  turned  in  his  favor 
he  paid  up  all  of  his  old  debts.  One  of  those  from 
whom  we  had  the  story,  was  himself  a  beneficiary 
of  this  act  of  unusual  justice.  The  debt  was  some 
years  old,  and  the  creditor  had  forgotten  it,  when 
he  was  surprised  by  Alvin  Adams  stopping  him  in 
the  street,  reminding  him  of  it,  and  requesting  him 
to  send  it  to  him  for  payment. 

In  May,  1840,  Alvin  Adams  and  P.  B.  Burke 
started  an  Express  in  direct  competition  with  Harn- 
den's,  under  the  style  of  Burke  &  Co.  After  a  few 
months  of  "up-hill  work,"  Burke  retired,  and  Mr. 
Adams  executed  all  the  business  of  the  "  opposition" 
himself.  He  was  its  messenger,  cashier,  receipt- 
clerk,  label-boy,  and  porter.  He  employed  no 
wagon,  nor  did  Harnden,  until  a  year  or  two  elapsed, 
for  they  had  only  small  and  valuable  parcels  to  de 
liver  in  those  days. 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  93 

We  believe  that  Burke  never  returned  to  the 
Express  business. 

For  the  first  week  or  two,  Adams  could  have 
stowed  it  all  in  his  hat;  nor  did  he  carry  anything 
more  than  a  valise  for  several  months  from  the  com 
mencement.  For  a  long  time  he  found  it  the  hardest 
kind  of  up-hill  work  to  obtain  a  share  of  the  public 
patronage  sufficient  to  pay  his  expenses,  so  strong  a 
hold  had  the  prosperous  Original  Expressman  obtain 
ed  upon  the  confidence  and  good- will  of  the  commu 
nity.  Indeed,  very  many  people  regarded  Adams  as 
an  interloper  upon  a  field  of  enterprise  fairly  won  by 
Harnden,  and  manifestly  his  "  by  the  right  of  dis 
covery."  It  is  more  than  probable  that  not  a  few 
of  Adams'  personal  friends  looked  upon  his  new 
business  disapprovingly,  or  damaged  it  by  faint 
praise.  We  know  that  some  of  them  had  no  sym 
pathy  with  it.  They  thought,  with  the  majority, 
that  there  would  never  be  enough  business  of  the 
kind  for  more  than  one  Expressman;  never  dream 
ing  that  in  less  than  eighteen  years  afterwards  it 
would  furnish  employment  for  more  than  five  thou 
sand  persons.  Indeed,  that  was  not  a  time  to  be 
sanguine  about  business  of  any  kind  except  politics. 
It  was  the  memorable  year  of  the  Harrison  Presi 
dential  Election,  and 

"Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  too," 

monopolized  more  attention  than  the  mart  or  the 
counting-room.     For  an  unprecedented  length  of 


94  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

time  the  industry  and  mercantile  interests  of  the 
whole  country  had  been  depressed  and  almost  ruin 
ed.  Any  change  of  rulers,  it  was  said,  could  not 
but  be  for  the  better,  and  the  people  were  full  of 
the  idea  of  a  revolution  in  the  national  administra 
tion,  with  a  view  to  improving  affairs  in  general  and 
business  in  particular. 

Subjected  to  the  double  disadvantage  of  an  un- 
propitious  period  for  a  new  enterprise,  and  a  de 
gree  of  antagonism  to  it  in  the  community  on  the 
part  of  the  very  people  upon  whose  favor  it  was 
dependent  for  a  support,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered 
at  that  Burke  should  so  soon  have  abandoned  the 
undertaking.  It  certainly  was  very  discouraging, 
but  Alvin  Adams  was  not  the  man  to  back  down. 
After  Burke  left  him,  in  1840,  he  conducted  the 
Express,  as  we  have  said,  entirely  alone.  He  had 
no  capital,  nor,  indeed,  had  Harnden  at  that  time. 
Shortly  afterwards,  he  took  Ephraim  Farnsworth 
into  copartnership,  and  gave  him  the  charge  of  the 
New  York  office;  but  the  connection  did  not  last 
long.  Farnsworth  died  some  years  ago.  We  speak 
of  what  the  second  Express  had  to  contend  with, 
the  better  to  illustrate  the  innate  energy  and  perse 
verance  of  Harnden  &  Co.'s  earliest  competitor, 
and  his  remarkable  fitness  for  the  occupation,  which 
in  calm  disregard  of  sneers  and  remonstrances,  and 
still  stronger  opposition,  he  persisted  in  following. 
It  has  been  often  said,  that  neither  Harnden  nor 
Adams,  nor  anybody  else,  could  possibly  have  an- 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  95 

ticipated,  at  the  outset,  that  the  Express  business 
would  ever  attain  to  the  importance  that  it  has; 
and  doubtless  that  was  so;  but  no  one  can  look 
upon  the  intelligent  countenance  and  ample  fore 
head  of  Alvin  Adams  without  the  conviction,  that 
he  had  the  sagacity  to  look  forward  to  the  realiza 
tion  of  far  greater  results  from  the  enterprise  than 
any  other  man.  It  is  difficult  to  believe  that  a 
person  of  his  mental  power  and  business  experi 
ence  would  have  been  contented  to  adopt  for  an 
occupation  what  appeared  then  to  be  only  that 
of  a  messenger  or  errand-man,  between  two  cities, 
had  he  not  expected  it  to  lead  to  something  of  more 
extent  and  consequence.  That  he  had  some  such 
foresight,  was  probably  the  reason  why  he  adhered 
to  his  enterprise  through  three  or  four  years  of  the 
hardest  kind  of  work  and  the  poorest  sort  of  remu 
neration. 

Brainard,  for  many  years  past  quite  famous  as 
an  express-wagon  builder  in  Boston,  at  that  time 
drove  a  job-wagon.  He  says  that  he  used  to  do 
the  little  carting  that  was  then  required  by  Adams, 
gratis;  and  even  at  that,  gave  him  the  preference 
to  Leonard,  of  the  Worcester  Express. 

"  Not  that  he  loved  Leonard  less,  but  Adams  more." 

Leonard,  who  paid  well  and  was  willing  to  pay 
more,  to  induce  B.  to  receive  his  freight  as  soon  as 
the  steamboat  train  arrived  from  Worcester  at  the 
Boston  Depot,  and  hurry  with  it  down  to  his  office, 


96  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

could  never  understand  why  he  should  insist  upon 
waiting  to  get  out  Adams'  New  York  trunk  when 
he  acknowledged  that  it  was  purely  a  "  labor  of 
love."  The  fact  is,  that  it  was  only  one  of  many 
evidences  that  we  have  seen  of  the  genial  influence 
that  Alvin  Adams  has  exercised  upon  the  affection 
of  all  who  have  enjoyed  his  friendship. 

At  the  time  of  Farns worth's  leaving  the  firmr 
Adams  &  Co.'s  clerk  in  New  York  was  a  young 
man,  named  William  B.  Dinsmore,  and  their  office 
was  in  the  basement  for  many  years  past  occupied 
by  Boyd's  City  Post,  in  William  Street,  near  Wall. 

This  was  in  the  latter  part  of  1841,  or  early  in 
1842.  Dinsmore  was  then  a  young  man,  without 
capital,  but  not  without  experience.  He  was  born 
in  Boston,  and  had  lived  there  until  two  or  three 
years  before  becoming  connected  with  the  Express. 
He  had  been  in  the  South  a  portion  of  the  time, 
engaged  in  trading,  and  still  later  was  employed  by 
David  Felt,  the  stationer,  in  New  York,  either  as  a 
salesman  or  book-keeper.  In  the  latter  capacity 
he  is  said  to  have  excelled.  We  have  many  pleas 
ant  recollections  of  him  in  his  native  city  before  he 
located  in  New  York,  and  remember  well  that  he 
was  regarded  by  his  associates,  and  others,  as  a 
young  man  of  much  wit  and  humor,  and  superior 
mental  calibre,  as  well  as  physical  ability. 

It  appears,  that  when  Farnsworth  left,  and  Dins- 
more  was  still  a  clerk,  Adams  seriously  thought  of 
taking  for  a  partner  some  man  of  extensive  acquaint- 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  97 

ance  in  New  York,  who  had  influence  with  the  Bos 
ton,  Worcester  and  Norwich  line,  which  carried  his 
express;  but  Dinsmore  urged  his  own  claims  so 
strenuously,  and  was  in  truth  so  useful  in  the  office, 
and  so  competent  to  take  charge  of  it,  that  he  car 
ried  the  day,  and  became  a  member  of  the  firm. 

It  is  now  some  sixteen  years  since  that  copart 
nership  was  formed,  and  the  two  gentlemen  still 
continue  associates  in  the  same  business,  and  in 
charge  of  the  same  offices;  ever  acting  harmoniously, 
yet  with  vigor  and  determination,  together. 

In  the  outset,  and  for  several  years  subsequently, 
Adams  &  Co.'s  business  was  limited  to  New  York, 
New  London,  Norwich,  Worcester  and  Boston. 

When  Dinsmore  sought  and  obtained  a  partner 
ship  in  Adams  &  Co.'s  Express,  he  removed  his  office 
to  No.  7  (now  17)  Wall  Street.  There  was  nothing 
in  the  actual  proceeds  of  the  business  to  encourage 
him  in  the  undertaking.  As  far  as  present  com 
pensation  for  his  labor  was  concerned,  he  would 
have  done  better  in  a  clerkship,  even  in  the  "hard 
times"  of  1842;  but  he  coincided  with  his  partner's 
ideas  of  the  prospective  importance  of  the  enter 
prise,  and  looked  to  the  future  for  reimbursement. 

He  knew  that 

"  Great  oaks  from  little  acorns  grow," 

and  recognized  in  the  Express  the  germ  that  would 
put  forth  and  become  a  goodly  tree,  and  in  time 
cover  the  land  with  its  branches. 

The  entire  business  of  Adams  &  Co.  was  done  then 


98  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

by  two  or  three  men  and  a  boy.  They  were  kept 
pretty  busy,  it  is  true,  but  found  it  hard  to  pay  ex 
penses,  even  with  the  most  rigid  economy. 

Up  to  1843,  their  affairs  had  not  prospered  much, 
nor  had  business  in  general  materially  improved; 
but,  fortunately  for  them,  Harnden  &  Co.,  about 
that  time,  became  so  engrossed  with  the  extension 
of  their  European  operations  as  somewhat  to  neg 
lect  their  home  Express,  and  as  an  inevitable  re 
sult  disaffected  some  good  customers,  who  on  that 
account  gave  their  parcels  to  Adams  &  Co.  The 
latter  improved  the  opportunity  to  redouble  their 
persevering  efforts  to  secure  success.  The  two  Ex 
presses  were  now  supplied  with  horses  and  wagons. 
In  the  fall  of  1843,  Samuel  L.  Woodard  (formerly 
a  stage-man  for  Col.  Staples,  from  Keene  and  Fitch- 
burg  to  Worcester,)  became  the  driver  of  Adams  & 
Co.'s  Boston  wagon,  although  he  was  probably 
worth  more  money  at  that  time  than  his  employers; 
and  he  has  continued  in  that  capacity  ever  since, 
one  of  the  most  faithful,  kind-hearted,  agreeable, 
and  industrious  of  men;  always  on  hand  early  and 
late,  and  ready  for  any  emergency.  Then,  an  Ex 
press  driver  was  as  valuable  and  important  as  ever 
the  stageman  had  been  in  his  palmy  days,  and  to 
his  efforts  in  " bucking  for  freight"  his  employers 
were  indebted  for  a  very  considerable  amount  of 
their  patronage.  Woodard  had  a  clear  head,  a 
round,  cheerful  happy  face,  a  plump  person,  and  a 
frank,  hearty  manner,  united  to  a  due  degree  of  the 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  99 

suaviter  in  modo,  (very  popular  characteristics,  by 
the  way;)  and  being  zealous  in  the  service  which  he 
had  adopted,  and  strongly  impressed  with  the  im 
portance  of  it  to  the  community,  he  talked  it  into 
the  bankers  and  merchants  with  signal  success. 
"  Harnden  &  Co.,"  he  would  say,  "have  got  more 
than  they  can  do;  give  your  business  to  us.  Just 
try  Adams  &  Co.  for  once  !  Mr.  Adams  is  a  little 
the  nicest  man  you  ever  did  see,  and  we  have  all 
the  facilities  for  doing  your  business  right  up  to 
the  handle  !  Come,  let  me  set  these  bundles  into 
my  wagon,  and  put  them  through  to  New  York  by 
daylight.  Mr.  Dinsmore,  Mr.  Adams'  partner  in 
New  York,  is  a  Boston  man,  (you  know  him,  don't 
you?  of  course  you  do:  he  was  made  for  an  Ex 
pressman  !)  and  will  see  to  the  delivering  of  these 
things  himself."  With  similar,  if  not  precisely  the 
same  "  moral  suasion"  as  this,  would  he  make  new 
customers  for  A.  &  Co.,  and,  once  obtained,  he  took 
good  care  never  to  lose  them.  Of  course,  he  soon 
came  to  be  regarded  by  Adams  as  an  almost  indis 
pensable  man  in  the  Express,  and  the  most  friendly 
relations  existed  between  them.  Woodard,  we  are 
happy  to  say,  now  enjoys,  as  the  fruits  of  his  tal 
ents,  industry  and  steady  habits,  a  snug  little  com 
petency,  and  a  constitution  unimpaired  by  his  long 
and  still-continued  service.  Even  the  handsome 
white  horse,  which  he  used  to  drive,  is  still  in  good 
order  and  well  condition,  though  now  about  twenty- 
six  years  old. 


100  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

The  competition  between  the  employees  of  the  two 
Expresses  to  outstrip  each  other  in  zeal  and  effi 
ciency,  received  a  great  impetus  at  that  period,  and 
it  lasted  several  years.  Charles  Haskell  succeeded 
Hall  (a  brother-in-law  of  Adams)  as  clerk  in  the 
Boston  office,  in  the  spring  of  1843,  and  remained 
in  that  employment  about  sixteen  years.  He  had 
previously  been  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Lewis  & 
Haskell,  merchants  of  New  Orleans,  where  he  ha? 
recently  engaged  in  a  Mississippi  River  Express  busi 
ness.  Having  enjoyed  a  good  mercantile  education, 
and  a  large  share  of  experience  of  men  and  things  in 
mercantile  life,  this  gentleman  was  an  invaluable  as 
sistant,  more  especially  as  he  took  hold  of  the  busi 
ness  with  as  much  interest  as  if  it  were  his  own. 

Adams'  partner  had  a  similar  "  good  faculty  of 
getting  along"  with  his  men  in  the  New  York  office, 
and  making  them  feel  zealously  interested  in  the 
competition  with  Harnden  &  Co.  Gifted  with  a 
keen  sense  of  the  ludicrous  side  of  life,  and  a  hered 
itary  facility  at  what  are  sometimes  called  happy 
turns  in  conversation,  and  so  republican  in  his  values 
of  mankind  as  to  care  no  more  for  a  don  than  for 
a  driver,  Dinsmore  was  always  liked  by  his  em 
ployees.  Daggett  was  a  clerk  for  him  in  1843,  and 
attended  to  the  Custom  House  business,  which  is 
now  done  for  Adams  &  Co.  by  John  K.  Stimson  & 
Brother.  John  Hoey,  then  a  boy,  fresh  from  a 
wholesale  literary-depot  establishment  in  Ann 
Street,  was  Dinsmore's  Mercury  and  factotum. 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  101 

Strictly  speaking,  when  Hoey  was  first  employed, 
the  entire  Express  business  of  Adams  &  Co.  in  this 
city  was  performed  by  one  man  and  a  boy,  with  the 
aid  of  only  a  Jersey  wagon,  the  proprietor  of  which 
was  one  Amos  Smith.  But  the  lad  was  a  smart  one, 
for  he  had  made  himself,  and  in  serving  "the  latest 
intelligence  received  per  Express"  to  the  daily  news 
papers  of  this  city,  he  put  Harnden  &  Co.'s  "  Mer 
cury  Jim"  to  his  trumps  to  excel  him,  especially 
after  the  enterprise  of  Dinsmore  had  furnished  him 
with  a  pony — a  real,  live  pony — with  which  to  trot 
from  Brooklyn  (where  the  papers  were  thrown  to 
John  by  Adams  &  Co.'s  messenger,  on  the  Long 
Island  Railroad  train  from  Boston)  around  to  the 
offices  of  the  various  editors  in  New  York. 

11  Mercury  Jim,11  however,  was  very  serviceable, 
and  we  could  wish  that  he  had  since  met  with  good 
fortune,  like  his  competitor,  John  Hoey,  who  has 
continued  to  serve  his  employers  to  the  extent  of 
his  constantly  enlarging  capacity,  until  now,  when 
we  find  him  Superintendent  of  the  Adams  Express 
Company's  immense  freight  and  parcel  business,  at 
No.  59  Broadway,  with  a  force  of  50  men,  40  horses, 
and  20  wagons  at  his  command,  as  a  substitute  for 
that  pony. 

Swett  and  Fisher  were  messengers  about  that 
time.  When  Dinsmore  obtained  a  regular  Express 
wagon,  Studley  (since  better  known  as  the  origina 
tor  of  the  Railroad  Baggage  Delivery  Express)  was 
employed  to  drive  it. 


102  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

James  D.  Wallace  was  a  driver  at  7  Wall  Street 
in  1843,  and  he  has  remained  with  Adams  &  Co. 
ever  since,  with  the  exception  of  an  interval  of  a 
few  months  passed  by  him  on  the  Isthmus  of  Pana 
ma  in  their  service.  He  distinguished  himself  not 
only  by  his  excellent  driving  and  good  care  of  his 
horse  and  wagon,  but  by  his  extraordinary  zeal  in 
obtaining  freight,  which,  but  for  his  personal  exer 
tions  and  powers  of  persuasion,  must  inevitably 
have  fallen  into  the  charge  of  the  competing  Ex 
press.  * '  Fidus  et  audax, "  ' '  Faithful  and  Bold, "  was 
a  title  that  well  might  be  applied  to  him.  For  fif 
teen  years,  or  thereabouts,  he  has  been  among  the 
foremost  of  the  faithful,  and  no  man  living  has  done 
more  express  work  than  he. 

E.  S.  Sanford,  a  native  of  Massachusetts,  became 
attached  to  Adams  &  Co.'s  New  York  office  in  1844, 
we  think  it  was.  Possessing  strong  mental  powers,, 
somewhat  cultivated,  and  an  aspiring  disposition, 
backed  by  a  firm  purpose  to  attain  to  influence, 
and  a  share  of  the  prosperity  which  he  had  sagacity 
enough  to  foresee  would  at  length  wait  upon  the 
Express,  he  made  himself  very  useful  to  Dinsmore, 
and,  in  that  or  the  following  year,  was  appointed 
agent  of  Adams  &  Co.  in  Philadelphia.  He  is  now 
regarded  as  one  of  the  most  able  of  Express  man 
agers  and  proprietors. 

James  R.  Doyle  was  employed  by  Adams  (July, 
1847)  as  a  messenger,  and  though  young  was  a 
faithful  and  valued  assistant.  He  died  prematurely 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  103 

of  consumption,  much  lamented.  Henry  Safford 
was  Dinsmore's  book-keeper  in  1845. 

Addison  Brastow,  first  employed  by  Adams  as  a 
messenger,  (1844,)  became  a  clerk,  and,  after  some 
years  of  faithful  service,  went  into  the  Express 
business  upon  his  own  account  in  New  Orleans.  He, 
too,  died  of  consumption  a  few  years  ago. 

John  M.  Freeman  entered  Alvin  Adams'  employ 
ment  in  the  spring  of  1844,  as  a  driver.  He  was 
originally  from  Nova  Scotia.  The  occupation,  as  we 
have  intimated  before,  demanded  something  more 
than  the  mere  ability  to  drive  a  horse  and  handle 
freight.  John  was  not  very  cityfied  at  the  outset, 
but  he  had  the  material  in  him  to  make  a  smart 
business  man,  and  he  became  finally  one  of  the 
most  popular  and  valuable  agents  that  Adams  & 
Co.  ever  had.  After  serving  as  driver  and  messen 
ger  a  year  or  two  for  Adams,  he  was  promoted  to 
a  clerkship  of  great  responsibility  in  Dinsmore's 
office  in  Wall  Street.  He  was  money  clerk,  and  had 
charge  of  the  Philadelphia  desk  in  the  office. 
James  R.  Cholwell,  Boston  way-bill  clerk,  after 
wards  became  money  clerk,  and  millions  of  dollars 
passed  through  his  hands  before  he  relinquished  the 
business  to  become  a  merchant.  He  was  succeeded 
by  George  Dixon,  a  very  faithful  man. 

In  1849  John  M.  Freeman  went  to  seek  his  for 
tune  in  California;  one  of  a  company  of  adventurers, 
who  either  bought  or  chartered  a  vessel,  and  made 
the  voyage  around  Cape  Horn.  Upon  their  arrival 


104  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

at  destination,  the   association  was  dissolved,  and 
John  again  enlisted  as  an  Express-man. 

Somewhere  about  1845,  E.  S.  Sanford,  then  lo 
cated  in  Adams  &  Co.'s  Philadelphia  office,  became 
associated  with  Samuel  M.  Shoemaker,  and  together 
they  started  an  Express  between  that  city  and  Wil 
mington,  Del.,  and  Baltimore,  via  the  Philadelphia, 
Wilmington  and  Baltimore  R.  R.  Their  Express 
was  soon  after  extended  to  Washington,  D.  C. 
This  Express  connected  at  Philadelphia  with  Adams 
&  Co.'s,  and  subsequently  took  that  name.  It  was 
well  managed,  and  became  a  popular  institution  in 
Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland  and  the  District. 
Shoemaker  was  a  native  of  Baltimore,  a  young, 
ambitious,  driving  man  of  business,  possessed  of  an 
acute  intellect,  remarkable  for  its  untiring  activity 
and  grasp  of  the  innumerable  minutia  of  his  Express. 
His  office  in  Baltimore  has  always  been  noteworthy 
for  its  well  ordered  and  thoroughly  executed  de 
tails.  W.  H.  Trego,  his  very  active  and  judicious 
agent  there,  has  been  in  the  business  many  years, 
though  he  is  still  young. 

In  1854,  Adams  &  Co.  purchased  of  Thompson 
&  Co.  the  Express  which  they  now  run  between 
Hartford,  Conn.,  and  Springfield,  Mass. 

Phillips,  for  about  16  years  past  an  Express-man  in 
Hartford,  became  agent  of  Adams  &  Co.,  after  hav 
ing  done  the  business  for  some  years  in  his  own  name. 
He  sustains  a  high  character  in  that  city. 

W.  Webb,  the  New  Haven  agent,  was  Harnden's 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  105 

agent  there  in  the  summer  of  1842,  and  he  has  ccm- 
tinued  to  conduct  the  New  Haven  business  through 
every  change  of  ownership.  He  was  agent  in  1844 
of  Beecher  &  Co.'s  and  Phillips  &  Co.'s  Expresses — 
the  former  running,  per  steamboat,  between  New 
Haven  and  New  York  daily;  and  the  latter  running 
from  New  Haven  to  Hartford,  via  -the  railroad, 
(which  was  in  operation,  at  that  time,  no  further 
than  the  latter  city,)  and  from  Hartford  to  New 
York  by  the  New  Haven  steamboats.  He  is  char 
acterized  by  a  quiet,  unassuming,  yet  pleasing  and 
gentlemanly  address,  a  kind  accommodating  dispo 
sition,  and  the  most  untiring  and  faithful  discharge 
of  his  duty.  These  good  qualities  rendered  him  a 
favorite  with  the  New  Haven  merchants  at  the  out 
set,  and  he  has  not  ceased  to  make  new  customers, 
and  retain  the  old  ones.  Agents  of  this  kind,  and 
like  Peregrine  Turner  and  the  late  Mr.  Parks,  (for 
so  many  years  the  faithful  and  popular  agents  in 
New  London  and  Norwich,  Conn.,)  are  invaluable 
to  an  Express  Company.  They  exercise  a  local 
influence  distinct  from  their  Express  agency,  cer 
tainly,  but  of  great  service  to  it. 

It  was  through  Webb  that  Adams  &  Co.  obtain 
ed  about  that  time  the  services  of  Henry  B.  Plant, 
now,  and  for  two  or  three  years  past,  the  superin 
tendent  of  their  express  operations  in  the  Southern 
States.  Plant  was  Webb's  partner  in  the  West 
India  goods  business  in  New  Haven,  in  1844,  and 
he  shared  with  him  the  Express  agency,  also.  In- 


106  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

deed,  the  details  of  the  latter  business  devolved  al 
most  entirely  upon  him  at  that  time,  and  it  so 
remained  until  Adams  and  Dinsmore  bought  out 
Beecher  &  Co.'s  Express,  and  united  it  with  Phillips 
&  Co.'s,  under  the  name  of  Adams  &  Co.'s  Hartford 
and  New  Haven  Express.  Soon  afterwards,  Webb 
&  Plant  sold  out  their  store  business;  the  former 
devoting  his  attention  exclusively  to  the  agency  for 
Adams  &  Co.,  and  the  latter  becoming  a  messenger 
for  them  on  the  steamboat  between  New  York  and 
Hartford.  The  manager  of  this  branch  of  Adams 
&  Co.'s  business,  at  16  Wall  Street,  was  E.  A.  John 
son,  long  since  deceased.  He  wanted  Plant  to  as 
sist  him  in  his  office,  and  he  became  a  clerk  there 
— Gabriel  Brush,  one  of  the  drivers,  taking  his 
place  as  messenger.  W.  L.  Crane,  the  present  man 
ager  of  the  New  York  Department  of  that  Express, 
was  then  a  clerk  in  the  New  Haven  office. 

Not  long,  subsequently,  Adams  &  Co.  made  a 
contract  with  the  U.  S.  Treasury  Department  to 
take  charge  of  Government  moneys  between  the 
New  York  Custom  House  and  the  U.  S.  Mint,  in 
Philadelphia.  The  care  of  these  immense  amounts 
of  treasure  in  transitu  was  given  to  Plant,  who  was 
regarded  by  Dinsmore  as  both  vigilant  and  incor 
ruptible.  Probably  Plant's  ver}'  temperate  and 
economical  habits,  staid  manners,  and  freedom  from 
the  hilarity  and  abandon  characteristic  of  the  young 
men  of  the  city,  recommended  him  to  the  confidence 
of  his  chief,  more  even  than  his  natural  acuteness 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  107 

and  thorough  way  of  doing  business.  After  six 
months'  service  as  messenger  between  New  York 
and  Philadelphia,  he  was  succeeded  by  the  very 
worthy  John  Dunning.  Plant  then  went  into  the 
office  at  16  Wall  Street,  to  take  the  management 
of  the  Hartford  and  New  Haven  Express. 

Soon  afterwards,  Adams  &  Co.  arranged  to  send 
their  money  parcels  and  small  packages  over  the 
New  York  and  New  Haven  Railroad,  then  just  com 
pleted,  paying  about  $1,700  per  month  for  the 
privilege.  For  about  a  year  more,  the  other  freight 
continued  to  go  by  steamboat  to  New  Haven.  Then, 
at  the  urgent  solicitation  of  the  President  of  the 
Railroad,  it  was  all  transferred  to  that  route,  and 
the  Express  run  four  times  a  day.  This  was  an  im 
portant  move,  and  the  Hartford  and  New  Haven 
Express  grew  rapidly.  The  Railroad  passes  through 
numerous  manufacturing  places,  and  the  Connecti 
cut  nation  are  pre-eminently  an  Express  people. 
Their  inventive  genius  and  mechanical  skill  render 
them  the  artificers  of  an  innumerable  variety  of  im 
plements  and  appliances  which  are  saleable  in  every 
part  of  the  United  States,  and  which  demand  Ex 
press  facilities  for  their  more  prompt  and  reliable 
distribution. 

Hardy  was  a  very  useful  messenger  on  the  New 
York  and  New  Haven  line  for  a  number  of  years. 
Plant  continued  to  have  charge  of  that  Express  un 
til  November,  1854,  when  he  went  to  Augusta,  Ga., 
to  act  as  superintendent  of  the  Harnden  Express,  in 


108  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

that  quarter;  and  he  was  succeeded  here  by  Win.  L. 
Crane,  one  of  the  very  best  Expressmen  now  living. 
Hiram  Dixon,  (now  a  celebrity  as  a  pictorial  pen 
man,  and  the  inventor  of  the  new  patent  system  of 
book-keeping,)  was  employed  by  Dinsmore  in  1848 
as  the  accountant  of  the  New  York  office.  An  ex 
cellent  book-keeper  himself,  Dinsmore  was  exceed 
ingly  particular  to  have  his  accounts  kept  according 
to  the  best  possible  system,  and  in  the  neatest  and 
most  accurate  manner.  He  was  unwilling  to  have 
his  books  inferior,  either  in  their  plan  or  their  pen 
manship,  to  those  of  any  mercantile  house  whatso 
ever;  and  for  that  reason  he  engaged  Dixon,  who, 
even  as  long  ago  as  that,  had  no  superior  in  his  line. 
Some  men  are  made  for  one  thing,  and  some  for 
another.  Dixon  was  made  to  be  a  book-keeper. 
In  the  midst  of  accounts  he  is  at  home.  They  can 
not  be  too  many  for  him,  nor  too  intricate.  Sub 
mit  to  his  analysis  a  set  of  books  which  ninety-nine 
accountants  in  a  hundred  would  say  were  in  inex 
tricable  confusion,  and  he  will  bring  order  out  of 
chaos  with  almost  incredible  ease  and  facility.  The 
books  of  the  Express  are  unlike  any  others  under 
the  sun;  and  of  all  the  companies,  the  "  Adams  " 
have  had  the  largest  variety  and  the  most  rapidly 
increasing  accounts.  This  has  been  more  especially 
the  case  since  1854;  and  it  has  afforded  us  pleasure 
to  observe  with  what  ease  and  thoroughness  their 
accomplished  and  veteran  book-keeper  has  acquit 
ted  himself.  His  new  mode  of  book-keeping  is  wor- 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  109 

thy  of  the  attention  of  every  accountant  and  mer 
cantile  firm  in  this  and  other  cities. 

John  K.  Stimson,  now  for  so  many  years  in  the 
Express  service,  first  entered  it  in  1846,  at  the  in 
vitation  of  Dinsmore.  They  had  been  school-fel 
lows  and  companions  in  boyhood.  At  the  time  of 
the  so-called  "Cherokee  War,"  Stimson  was  a  Quar 
termaster  in  the  U.  S.  service.  Subsequently,  he 
was  a  Civil  Engineer,  and  assisted  Col.  J.  Edgar 
Thompson  in  making  the  first  Railroad  in  Georgia, 
(1838-9.)  He  had  just  finished  like  service  in  the 
lower  portion  of  that  State,  on  the  Flint  River  and 
Ocmulgee  R.  R.,  (1844,)  when  he  was  written  to 
by  his  friend  D.,  requesting  him  to  assist  him  in  his 
office,  as  cashier  and  confidential  clerk.  He  also 
assumed  the  care  of  the  Custom  House  brokerage 
business,  which  Adams  &  Co.  were  in  the  habit  of 
attending  to  for  the  importers.  In  this  capacity  he 
continued  until  July,  1854. 

George  M.  Curtis,  of  Boston,  was  employed  in 
the  New  York  office  as  early  as  1848,  and  was  for 
some  years  in  charge  of  the  Boston  desk.  He  is 
now  at  the  head  of  the  money  parcel  and  collection 
department,  and  is  highly  esteemed  for  his  many 
excellent  qualities,  and  always  gentlemanly  bearing. 
William  Stevenson,  for  many  years  at  the  head  of 
the  Philadelphia  department  in  New  York,  died  a 
few  years  ago,  of  consumption.  He  was  exceed 
ingly  accurate  in  his  way-bills  and  accounts,  and  his 
loss  was  much  felt.  Dr.  Franklin,  an  assistant  of 


110  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

his,  and  a  very  worthy  young  man,  died  of  the  same 
disease,  somewhat  earlier.  Abram  Austin  and  W. 
H.  Darling  were  among  the  best  of  the  old  driv 
ers.  They  were  gentlemanly,  and  very  successful 
in  bucking  for  freight. 

Ten  years  ago,  the  number  of  Expresses  in  Bos 
ton,  with  routes  of  from  five  to  fifty  miles,  was  not 
less  than  twenty,  and  those  were  owned  by  as  many 
different  individuals. 

The  effect  of  the  very  commendable  emulation 
between  Adams  &  Co.  and  Harnden  &  Co.,  in  the 
matter  of  handsome  horses  and  wagons,  was  note 
worthy.  Every  new  Expressman  started  in  business 
with  one  idea  more  strongly  impressed  upon  his 
mind  than  any  other,  viz.,  whatever  other  aids  and 
appliances  he  might  lack,  he  must,  at  any  rate,  have 
a  smart  horse  and  a  handsome  wagon.  That  notion 
has  continued,  until  it  has  become  a  rule  as  unal 
terable  as  the  laws  of  the  Medes  and  Persians.  The 
same  laudable  example  has  had  a  manifest  influence 
in  improving  the  taste  of  nearly  all  who  own  horses 
and  carts  in  New  York.  The  Express  stables  are 
well  worth  a  visit. 

In  1849,  a  new  order  of  Express  service  was  des 
tined  to  spring  up.  "The  California  gold  fever" 
had  broken  out,  and  thousands  of  young  men  were 
thronging  to  the  newly-acquired  Golconda.  when 
Daniel  Hale  Haskell,  a  highly-esteemed  clerk  in 
Adams  &  Co.'s  Boston  office,  suggested  to  his  em 
ployers  the  expediency  of  establishing  a  California 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  Ill 

Express.  With  characteristic  prudence,  Adams  and 
Dinsmore  at  first  opposed  the  proposition;  foresee 
ing  that  the  most  important  point  of  operations  must 
necessarily  be  in  San  Francisco,  some  thousands  of 
miles  beyond  their  supervision;  and  they  preferred 
to  have  all  their  business  where  they  could  give  it 
their  frequent  personal  inspection.  However,  they 
at  length  yielded  to  Haskell's  solicitations,  and  he 
went  out  to  San  Francisco,  in  the  steamer  of  Sep 
tember,  1849,  to  act  as  their  partner  in  the  propos 
ed  business.  The  building  which  he  took  for  an 
Express  office  was  a  little  shanty,  of  which  I.  C. 
Woods  was  either  the  owner  or  the  owner's  agent. 
As  the  business  increased  rapidly,  this  building  had 
to  be  pieced  out,  or  extended  in  depth,  every  few 
weeks,  to  hold  the  multitudes  which  thronged  to  it 
to  hear  the  news,  obtain  or  send  letters,  and  remit 
their  gold  dust.  Help  of  the  right  sort  for  him  be 
ing  very  scarce,  Haskell  was  very  glad  when  the  ex 
perienced  and  accomplished  Expressman,  John  M. 
Freeman,  arrived  out,  to  employ  him  at  a  salary  of 
$600  per  month ! 

The  charge  made  by  Adams  &  Co.  for  freight 
from  New  York  to  San  Francisco  was  seventy-five 
cents  per  pound,  for  packages  not  exceeding  fifteen 
pounds  each;  and  for  parcels  of  less  weight,  not 
bulky,  such  price  was  made  as  could  be  agreed  up 
on.  Three  dollars  was  their  price  for  conveying  an  ^ 
ordinary-sized  daguerreotype;  twelve  dollars  for  a 
parcel  not  larger  than  a  common  size  novel;  and 


112  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

this  was  always  exacted  in  advance.  It  was  paid 
cheerfully  and  without  any  haggling.  Since  then, 
the  prices  have  fallen  about  60  per  cent. 

Upon  the  arrival  of  the  steamer  at  Chagres  with 
the  Express,  the  freight  would  be  sent  ashore  in 
boats — a  tedious  and  perilous  job,  for  the  sea  usu 
ally  ran  high,  and  the  boats  were  frequently  swamp 
ed.  At  Chagres  it  was  transferred  to  river  canoes, 
and  propelled  by  natives  to  Cruces,  where  it  was 
again  transferred  and  placed  upon  the  backs  of 
mules,  which  bore  it  (by  a  road  that  would  have 
defied  the  locomotion  of  any  other  kind  of  beast)  to 
Panama,  where  the  Pacific  steamship  awaited  to 
convey  it  to  San  Francisco.  Being  liable  to  be  sat 
urated  with  wet  in  being  carried  ashore  at  Chagres, 
and  in  crossing  the  Isthmus  by  reason  of  rains  and 
streams,  it  was  required  of  shippers  to  put  up  their 
merchandise  in  water-proof  packages.  The  load  of 
a  mule  rarely  exceeded  300  Ibs.  Usually  he  bore 
two  oblong  boxes  or  trunks  weighing  not  over  125 
Ibs.  each. 

In  the  mercurial  condition  of  the  California  mar 
kets  at  that  period,  it  was  highly  important  that 
"Express  goods'7  should  be  put  through  promptly, 
\say,  in  from  thirty-one  to  thirty-three  days,  which 
was  then  considered  good  time;  though,  by  means  of 
the  Panama  Railroad,  and  the  increased  speed  of 
the  steamships,  the  trip  from  New  York  to  San 
Francisco  rarely  occupies  more  than  twenty-three 
days,  and  twenty-one  days  suffices  for  the  return 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  113 

voyage.  Adams  &  Company  soon  recognized  the 
importance  of  having  their  Expresses  go  forward  in 
charge  of  some  of  their  own  people,  and  they  sent 
out  Fred.  Stimson  as  a  special  messenger  to  accom 
pany  their  freight.  No  one  unfamiliar  with  the 
facts  has  an  adequate  idea  of  "  the  moving  accidents  / 
by  flood  and  field,"  the  exposure  to  the  weather,  and 
the  risk  of  robbery  and  murder,  (to  say  nothing  of 
that  "dreadful  Chagres  fever,")  which  this  man, 
and  his  immediate  successors  in  the  business — Swett, 
Sanborn,  Wallace,  Dunning,  Parvew,  Morton,  and 
Trembly — had  to  encounter. 

Another  class  of  messengers  to  which  Adams  & 
Company's  Express  in  California  gave  rise,  were 
wont  to  perform  their  service  on  horseback  between 
San  Francisco  (and  other  towns)  and  the  numerous 
"  diggins."  Sometimes  they  made  use  of  mules; 
but,  in  either  case,  the  beasts  must  be  sure  and 
swift  of  foot,  and  easy  under  the  saddle,  or  they 
were  discarded,  and  better  procured  in  their  stead. 
To  be  able  and  willing  to  run  fleetly  at  a  word  from 
its  rider  was  a  sine  qua  non  in  the  steed  of  an  Ex 
press  messenger  ;  and  we  have  heard  wonderful 
stories  of  the  time  made,  under  the  saddle,  in  this 
service.  F.  A.  Stimson  and  Felix  Tracy,  who  served 
in  this  capacity  for  Adams  &  Co.,  could  tell  many  an 
exciting  yarn  on  this  head,  and  a  very  interesting 
book  of  adventures  has  been  published  by  "  Old 
Block,"  Delano,  the  Express  rider,  employed  after 
wards  by  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co. 


114  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

When  we  think  of  the  trackless  wilderness  and 
perilous  defiles  which  the  Express  rijjer^  had  to  pass 
through,  the  mountains  they  had  to  climb,  and  the 
numerous,  and  often  badly-swollen  streams  they 
had  to  ford,  we  must  admit  their  achievements  to 
have  been  almost  miraculous. 

Intrusted  with  the  conveyance  of  considerable 
quantities  of  gold  dust,  collected  at  the  mines,  these 
messengers  were  liable,  if  they  escaped  the  rifles  of 
prowling  Indians,  of  a  far  more  savage  nature 
than  those  of  the  Isthmus,  to  murderous  attacks 
from  Mexican  outlaws,  and  even  from  such  of  their 
own  countrymen  as  had  been  driven  by  ill  success 
and  bad  habits  into  desperate  courses.  With  sin 
gularly  good  fortune,  however,  they  all  escaped  that 
peril.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  cause  of  the 
immunity,  it  is  but  just  to  award  them  great  credit 
for  manhood,  zeal,  prudence  and  fidelity.-  More  re- 
>ntly,  very  heavy  robberies  have  been  perpetrated 
ipon  inland  California  Expresses  by  highwaymen.^ 
years  the  miners  and  journals  of  California  were 
almost  entirely  dependent  upon  Adams  &  Co.  for 
their  letters,  and  latest  intelligence  from  the  Atlantic 
States. 

Adams  &  Co.'s  California  Express  business  was 
so  prosperous  the  first  year  or  two,  that  Messrs. 
Sanford  and  Shoemaker  (who,  in  the  meantime,  had 
become  partners  in  Adams  &  Co.'s  business  in  the 
Atlantic  States)  sought  and  obtained  an  interest 
in  it. 


.EXPRESS      HISTORY.  115 

It  was  a  rich  treat,  in  the  almost  fabulous  days 
of  California's  development  by  American  enterprise, 
to  be  present  in  Adams  &  Co.'s  office  in  this  city, 
upon  the  arrival  of  an  Express  from  that  auriferous 
region,  and  see  the  bags  of  gold  dust — a  multitude 
of  them,  and  of  every  size — all  silently  eloquent  of 
the  toil  and  trials  of  the  diggers.  If  they  could 
have  spoken,  what  stories  they  would  have  told  us ! 
"  Thereby  hangs  a  tale." 

The  bags  were  almost  invariably  of  buckskin, 
numbered  in  the  order  in  which  they  had  been  re 
ceived  at  the  Express  office  in  San  Francisco,  and 
inscribed  with  their  weight  and  estimated  value, 
reckoning  it  at  $17.50  per  ounce,  or  less  if  of  in 
ferior  quality.  (The  dust  from  the  Southern  mines 
of  California  was  the  best.)  Then  there  would 
11  open  up"  boxes  of  specimens  of  the  precious  ore, 
remarkable  either  for  their  immense  value  or  curi 
ous  formation;  or  a  returned  miner  would  produce 
one  from  his  pocket — which  was  literally  "  a  pocket 
full  of  rocks."  One  of  these  specimens,  as  large  as 
a  child's  head,  and  very  pure,  was  valued  at  $13,000. 
Others  looked  as  if  elaborated  by  the  cunning  hand 
of  Queen  Mab's  goldsmith;  and  some  bore  beautiful 
impressions  of  clusters  of  berries  and  leaves,  as  if 
in  some  grand  upheaving  or  melting  down  of  ' '  the 
earth's  crust,"  a  shrub  had  fallen  into,  or  been  sub 
merged  by  a  vein  of  molten  gold,  which  had  sud 
denly  cooled  upon  ity  retaining  the  lineaments  of 
the  sprigs  to  astonish  future  generations. 


116  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

There  is  a  vast  deal  of  interesting  matter  con 
cerning  the  Express  business  in  California,  which. 
for  want  of  space,  we  shall  have  to  pass  over  with 
out  even  a  brief  notice.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  as 
long  as  D.  H.  Haskell  gave  the  affairs  and  office  de 
tails  of  Adams  &  Co.  in  California  his  faithful  per 
sonal  attention,  (which  was  for  a  year  or  two,)  they 
were  quite  prosperous.  Their  business  extended 
to  Oregon,  the  Northwest  coast,  and  the  islands  of 
the  Pacific;  and  from  San  Francisco  they  forwarded 
Express  freight  to  Canton  and  other  ports  in  China. 
In  fact,  it  appeared  as  if  it  would  soon  put  a  girdle 
around  the  earth. 

To  continue  our  history  in  chronological  order,  we 
must  now  recur  to  the  Express  service  on  this  side 
of  the  Pacific. 

It  is  almost  incredible  that,  rapidly  as  Expresses 
had  increased  in  the  Eastern  States,  after  the  ex 
ample  had  been  set  by  Harnden  in  1839,  they  were 
not  at  all  in  use  in  most  of  the  slaveholding  States 
until  1850.  Now  they  are  pretty  thoroughly  awake 
to  the  importance  of  such  facilities,  as  a  commercial 
lever,  and  are  seeking  to  supply  their  deficiency; 
but  Stimson  &  Co.  (John  K.  &  A.  L.  Stimson)  found 
it  rather  "hard  sledding,"  when,  in  1850,  they 
started  the  first  regular  Express  that  was  ever  in 
use  in  New  Orleans  and  Mobile,  and  the  far  South 
ern  and  Southwestern  States;  and  their  expenses 
exceeded  their  income.  In  1851  they  took  Addi- 
son  Brastow  into  copartnership  with  them,  and  he 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  117 

became  the  resident  manager  in  New  Orleans.  Their 
office  in  New  York  was  with  Adams  &  Co. — whose 
business  had  so  enlarged  as  to  occupy  two  stores, 
Nos.  16  and  18  Wall  Street.  A.  &  Co.,  in  the  fol 
lowing  year,  received  a  half-interest  in  Stimson  & 
Co.'s  business,  and  it  assumed  the  style  of  Adams 
&  Co.'s  New  York,  New  Orleans  and  Mobile  Ex 
press.  S.  &  Co.  were  induced  to  accede  to  this  for 
two  reasons,  viz:  1st,  because  Adams  &  Co.  would 
otherwise  have  established  on  that  route  an  Express 
of  their  own,  against  which  it  would  have  been 
hopeless  to  contend;  and  2d,  because  A.  &  Co. 
agreed  to  arrange  it  with  the  owners  of  the  Harn- 
den  line  that  they  should  not  run  an  opposition. 

It  was  not  then  a  remunerative  Express,  but  it 
was  bound  to  become  the  key  to  constantly  extend 
ing  lines  and  increasing  routes  in  the  Southwest, 
as  the  Adams  Express  Co.  are  now  demonstrating. 

Shortly  after  the  commencement  of  the  N.  0. 
Express  by  S.  &  Co.,  John  Hoey  became  associated 
with  John  K.  Stimson,  under  the  style  of  Hoey  £ 
Co.,  and  started  the  New  York  and  Charleston 
Steamship  Express.  Both  of  those  gentlemen  were 
still  in  the  employ  of  Adams  &  Co.  Having  per 
fect  experience  in  the  service,  and  endowed  with 
popular  address  and  extraordinary  energy,  they 
secured  a  strong  foothold  for  their  new  Express; 
but  they  expended  a  good  deal  of  money  upon  it 
before  it  compensated  them,  notwithstanding  that 
it  was  a  great  accommodation  to  the  merchants  of 


118  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Alabama,  and  Tennessee. 
[In  1851  or  1852  S.  T.  Combs  &  Co.  had  certain 
Express  facilities  in  South  Carolina  and  Georgia, 
but  relinquished  them  in  a  year  or  two.  Combs 
now  resides  in  Augusta,  Ga.]  It  will  be  seen  by 
what  we  shall  have  to  say  of  Henry  B.  Plant's 
operations  in  those  States,  at  a  later  period,  that 
the  business,  thus  well  begun  by  Hoey  and  Stimson, 
has  since  become  very  extensive. 

Hiram  Dixon  had  the  charge  of  the  two  or  three 
earlier  Express  freights  to  and  from  California. 
Afterwards,  0.  P.  Blackburn,  temporarily  supplying 
Dixon's  place  as  book-keeper,  (1849,)  had  the  care 
of  it  for  a  little  while.  Blackburn  afterwards  went 
into  business  in  Aspinwall,  as  partner  of  S.  Dela 
Cova,  the  very  worthy  agent  of  Adams  &  Co.  on 
the  Isthmus.  George  Carrick  about  the  same  time 
became  very  useful  in  the  New  York  office,  as  re 
ceipting  clerk,  and  has  now  the  charge  of  the  lower 
freight  department. 

In  1850  or  '51,  A.  L.  Stimson  began  what  was 
then  an  entirely  new  business  in  connection  with 
the  Express  service,  viz:  a  regular  Purchasing 
\  Agency,  for  filling  orders  from  a  distance  for  the 
purchase  of  goods  and  articles  of  almost  every  de 
scription,  in  New  York;  and  he  did  considerable  at 
this  for  the  Express-men  of  California.  Win.  T. 
Porter,  editor  of  the  very  popular  race-course  and 
sporting  newspaper,  the  Spirit  of  the  Times,  and 
Holden  &  McMakin,  editors  and  proprietors  of  the 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  119 

Philadelphia  Saturday  Courier,  had  done  a  similar 
business,  for  some  years  previous,  for  the  readers 
of  their  respective  journals. 

In  1852,  A.  L.  Stimson  started  the  first  news 
paper  organ  of  the  Express  Companies.  It  was 
called  The  Express  Messenger,  and  advocated  the 
interests  of  all  responsible  Expresses,  everywhere. 
Its  original  size  was  about  7x9,  and  its  title  and 
border  were  printed  in  red  ink.  It  was  probably 
the  first  paper  executed  in  that  style.  The  Express 
Messenger  was  enlarged  from  time  to  time,  until 
about  the  size  of  a  folio  N.  Y.  Herald  or  Tribune. 
Upon  increasing  its  size  again,  (1856,)  the  red  ink 
was  abandoned,  and  in  size  and  appearance  it  re 
sembled  the  Home  Journal.  Stimson  used  it  as  a 
medium  of  communication  with  the  Express  agents, 
whose  orders  for  the  sale  of  produce  and  purchase 
of  goods  he  sought  (as  he  still  does)  to  obtain. 

John  W.  Carrington  (as  early  as  1851  or  ?52,  if 
we  mistake  not)  was  in  the  custom  of  filling  or 
ders  for  the  merchants  and  others  of  Panama,  and 
the  commercial  cities  of  South  America,  for  the 
purchase  of  goods  in  this  city.  After  leaving  the 
employment  of  Adams  &  Co.,  whom  he  had  served 
for  a  year  or  more  in  their  California  department 
in  New  York,  Carrington  advertised  his  Purchasing 
Agency,  and  extended  its  usefulness  to  California, 
and  all  parts  of  the  United  States  and  Canada.  His 
fluency  in  the  French  and  Spanish  languages,  and 
wide  range  of  business  experience,  both  at  home 


120  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

and  abroad,  rendered  him  a  very  desirable  Ameri 
can  correspondent.  He  became  associated,  in  1854, 
with  A.  M.  Hinkley,  in  a  baggage  and  freight  Ex 
press  from  Chagres  to  Panama,  but  the  connection 
did  not  last  long.  Subsequently,  he  became  an 
authorized  agent  for  the  sale  of  California  passage 
tickets.  Still  later,  (we  think  it  was  in  1855,)  he 
commenced  his  Havana  Express,  and  the  publication 
of  The  Commissionaire,  as  the  organ  of  his  Purchas 
ing  Agency,  which  has  now  grown  to  be,  in  his 
hands,  well  patronized. 

Charles  E.  Bowers,  Jr.,  a  nephew  of  Dinsmore, 
after  having  served  as  a  clerk  in  the  New  York 
office  for  several  years,  went  to  California  in  1852, 
and  becoming  Haskell's  draft  and  exchange  clerk, 
made  himself  very  useful  to  the  firm.  About  the 
same  time,  or  a  little  later,  the  brothers  Edward  F. 
Tracy  and  T.  Felix  Tracy  were  employed  by  Has- 
kell,  and  for  years  afterwards  were  of  great  service 
to  Adams  &  Co.  in  the  town  of  Shasta;  one  in  the 
capacity  of  agent,  the  other  as  a  messenger  to  the 
mines. 

Freeman  Cobb  had  the  charge  of  the  freight  de 
partment  of  the  California  Express  in  Adams  & 
Co.'s  New  York  office,  in  1850,  and  for  about  two 
years  later.  He  was  young,  but  had  received  a  good 
business  education,  and  was  remarkably  rapid,  as 
well  as  correct,  in  the  discharge  of  his  laborious  and 
responsible  duties.  During  Dinsmore's  temporary 
absence  in  Europe  in  1851,  nearly  the  entire  charge 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  121 

• 

of  the  California  freight,  parcel,  and  gold-dust  busi 
ness,  in  New  York,  devolved  upon  Cobb. 

The  (Jraft  and  cashier  department  was  filled  by 
H.  N.  Palmer,  who  was  greatly  beloved  in  the  office, 
because  he  united  to  superior  ability  and  assiduous 
application,  a  very  agreeable  personal  appearance, 
and  a  generous  disposition.  "Daisy"  has  been  for 
some  years  past  a  merchant  in  the  East  Indies,  but 
he  has  not  forgotten  the  Express  boys,  and  all  who 
knew  him,  here,  will  not  cease  to  remember  him 
with  emotions  of  pleasure. 

In  1852  Adams  &  Co.  purchased,  for  $80,000, 
the  store  and  lot  No.  59  Broadway,  and  after  mak 
ing  extensive  improvements  upon  the  same,  moved 
thither  from  16  and  18  Wall  Street.  The  same  year 
they  sent  George  Mowton  to  Melbourne,  Australia,! 
to  establish  there  a  branch  of  their  Express.  Mow-1 
ton  was  an  experienced  hand,  of  irreproachable 
character  and  popular  manners.  He  had  served 
them  long  and  faithfully  in  the  West,  and  as  an 
agent  in  Cincinnati,  and  was  a  very  efficient  man, 
in  the  right  place;  but  he  was  not  adapted  to  the 
meridian  of  Melbourne.  In  fact,  Adams  &  Co. 
ought  to  have  had,  both  there  and  in  San  Francisco, 
men  of  thorough  commercial  education,  and  per 
fectly  familiar  with  banking  and  exchange.  Mowton 
would  not  have  undertaken  it,  had  he  had  any  idea 
of  the  character  the  business  would  assume,  nor 
would  he  have  been  asked  to  do  so.  Nor  is  it  pro 
bable  that  Adams  &  Co.  would  have  projected  the 


122  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

enterprise  to  Australia,  had  it  not  been  for  the 
solicitations  of  a  Company  of  steamship  owners, 
who  represented  that  they  should  have  their  steam 
ships  make  the  trips  between  New  York  and  Mel 
bourne  with  all  the  regularity  of  the  Pacific  Mail 
Steamship  line.  The  noble  steamer  Golden  Age, 
(3,000  tons,)  was  certainly  built  for  the  purpose, 
and  advertised  when  ready;  but,  little  freight  and 
few  passengers  offering,  the  line  was  abandoned. 
No  other  line  was  afterwards  started,  and  having 
no  facilities  for  the  transportation  of  express  freight, 
and  no  inclination  to  do  a  commercial  business, 
Adams  &  Co.  recalled  Mowton,  and  wound  up  their 
affairs  in  Melbourne,  with  a  very  heavy  loss.  Mow- 
ton,  soon  after  his  return,  became  the  agent  of  some 
valuable  coal  mines  at  Trevorton,  Pa.,  where,  we 
believe,  he  still  resides. 

Freeman  Cobb,  who  went  from  the  tour  of  the 
Continent  to  Australia,  overland,  had  arrived  there 
about  the  same  time  that  Mowton  had,  and  started 
an  inland  Express  upon  his  own  account.  He  es 
tablished  a  stage  line,  also;  having  obtained  from 
the  United  States  some  wagons  which,  before  he 
left  this  country,  he  had  given  orders  to  have  made 
for  the  purpose.  By  these  means,  the  Yankee  boy 
in  Australia  realized  a  fortune  in  three  or  four  years, 
and  returned  home  in  1857,  a  rich  man. 

^Joseph  Leavitt,  another  Bostonian,  and  Express 
man,  was  there  at  the  same  time,  but  was  not  so 
successful. 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  123 

John  M.  Freeman  had  purchased  of  Hawley  &  Co. 
an  Express  from  San  Francisco  to  Sacramento  City, 
which,  after  a  term  of  prosperity,  was  disposed  of  at 
a  loss.  He  then  went  to  Panama  and  established 
business,  partly  express  and  partly  commercial, 
between  that  city  and  some  ports  in  South  America. 

Samuel  W.  Langton  and  A.  T.  Langton,  (Lang- 
ton- &  Co.)  started  an  Express  from  Downieville  to 
Marysville,  connecting  with  Adams  &  Co.  at  San 
Francisco;  and  several  other  Expresses  were  com 
menced  soon  after.  John  Dunning,  who  had  been 
long  a  highly  esteemed  employee,  served  A.  &  Co. 
for  a  long  time  upon  the  Isthmus.  John  Sanborn, 
Edward  Hall,  A.  G.  Richardson,  W.  H.  Hall,  and 
A.  G.  Morton  were  engaged  in  A.  &  Co.'s  business 
in  California.  The  melancholy  fate  of  poor  Gabe 
Brush  is  well  known  to  all  our  readers.  He  per 
ished  in  the  ill-fated  U.  S.  M.  Steamship  Central 
America,  which  was  lost  in  September,  1857. 

Meanwhile,  Adams  &  Co.'s  business  at  home  was 
rapidly  extending  South  and  West  of  Washington. 
Adams,  Dinsmore,  Sanford,  Shoemaker,  G.  W.  Cass, 
and  Dr.  Howard  Kennedy  became  associated  in 
the  ownership  and  conduct  of  a  line  from  Philadel 
phia  to  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  via  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  under 
the  style  of  Adams  &  Co.'s  Express.  They  were 
largely  indebted  for  their  facilities  to  Dr.  Howard 
Kennedy,  (now  deceased,)  and  G.  W.  Cass,  now 
President  of  the  Pittsburg,  Fort  Wayne  and  Chicago 
Railroad  Company. 


124  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

On  the  1st  of  July,  1854,  (as  we  said  in  our  histo 
ry  of  Harnden  &  Co.,)  the  following  Expresses  were 
consolidated,  viz:  Adams  &  Co.'s  Eastern,  Southern 
and  Western  Express;  the  Harnden  Express;  Kins 
ley  &  Co.'s,  and  Hoey  &  Co.'s  Charleston  Express. 
This  very  important  consolidation  assumed  the  title 
of  "THE  ADAMS  EXPRESS  COMPANY/'  It  is  a  joint- 
stock  property,  in  12,000  shares,  of  no  specified 
value,  but  regarded  as  worth  at  least  $100  per 
share;  making,  in  all,  $1,200,000.  The  number 
of  its  owners  in  1854,  soon  after  its  organization,  or 
at  the  time,  exceeded  thirty.  Alvin  Adams  was  its 
first  President.  Early  in  1855,  he  was  succeeded 
by  Gr.  W.  Cass.  In  the  summer  of  1854,  it  was  ad 
vertised  in  the  N.  Y.  Journal  of  Commerce  and  other 
papers,  that  Alvin  Adams,  Wm.  B.  Dinsmore,  E.  S. 
Sanford,  and  S.  M.  Shoemaker  had  dissolved  their 
copartnership  with  D.  H.  Haskell,  and  thus  termi 
nated  their  business  in  California.  It  had  been  de 
cided  by  the  four  gentlemen  composing  the  house 
of  Adams  &  Co.  in  the  Atlantic  States,  that  this  firm 
should  do  nothing  more  with  California  except  to 
forward  freight  thither  from  this  port.  Nor  would 
they  be  at  the  expense  of  keeping  an  office  in  Cali 
fornia;  but  in  consideration  of  Isaiah  C.  Woods'  and 
D.  H.  Haskell's  collecting  the  freights  for  them  in 
San  Francisco,  and  remitting  the  same  to  them  in 
New  York,  they  agreed,  as  an  equivalent  service, 
to  cash  any  drafts  that  W.  &  H.  might  keep  them 
in  funds  to  meet. 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  125 

D.  H.  Haskell  then  associated  with  himself  his 
manager,  Isaiah  C.  Woods,  as  a  partner,  and  they 
assumed  the  sole  proprietorship  of  Adams  &  Co.'s 
California  Express.  Representing  to  Alvin  Adams 
that  as  they,  by  their  own  personal  exertions,  had 
made  the  business  what  it  was  in  California,  they 
ought  to  be  allowed  the  best  possible  hold  upon  the 
name  of  "Adams  &  Co;"  they  induced  him  to  be 
come  a  special  partner,  with  no  liability  beyond 
$25,000,  which  he  was  to  put  into  the  concern. 
This  copartnership  was  also  advertised  at  the  time, 
in  the  leading  commercial  newspapers.  Haskell  & 
Woods  sent  to  New  York  Wm.  H.  Hall,  an  expe 
rienced  exchange  book-keeper,  to  serve  them  as 
their  own  proper  agent  here,  and  to  hire,  if  neces 
sary,  another  office  for  the  purpose.  They  do  not 
appear  to  have  regarded  the  Adams  Express  Com 
pany  as  friendly  to  their  interests. 

It  was  a  fact,  that  a  share  of  the  prosperity  and 
fame  of  Adams  &  Co.,  in  California,  was  owing  to 
the  industry,  enterprise  and  remarkable  ability  of 
•'I.  C.  Woods;  but  with  all  his  capacity  for  useful 
ness,  Dinsmore,  Sanford,  and  Shoemaker  regarded 
him  as!' too  bold  and  unsafe  an  operator.  The  re 
sult  corroborated  their  fears.  Before  a  year  had 
elapsed,  the  California  Express  was  prostrate  in  in 
extricable  and  hopeless  bankruptcy. 

It  led  the  gentlemen  who  were  doing  the  freight 
ing  business  in  the  Atlantic  States,  under  that  name, 
to  relinquish  it  to  John  M.  Freeman,  John  K. 


126  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

Stimson,  and  Josiah  Hedden,  who  started  about  that 
time  the  enterprise  now  well-known  as  Freeman  & 
Co.'s  California  Express.     The  exchange  and  bank 
ing   patronage  was   transferred   by  the  public  to 
Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.,  who  obtained  also  a  large  share 
of  the  freight.     At  the  time  of  the  creation  of  the 
new  firm  of  Freeman  &  Co.,  Stimson  was  in  San 
Francisco.     Freeman,  then  in  business  at  Panama, 
changed   his   location  to    California,   to   take   the 
supervision  of  the  business  of  his  new  firm  there. 
Hedden  superintended  its  operations  in  the  Atlan 
tic  States,  and  is  entitled  to  the  most  unqualified 
commendation  for  his  management.  Stimson  shortly 
afterwards  returned  to  New  York,  but  he  has  recently 
passed  a  month  or  two  in  San  Francisco.     The  part 
ners  being  in  the  prime  of  life,  full  of  energy,  and 
thoroughly  accomplished  in  the  service,  were  bound 
to  succeed;  and  they  have  done  so.     In  the  latter 
part  of  1857,  or  early  in  1858,  Freeman  Cobb  (who 
I  have  said  had  returned  from  Australia)  became 
associated  with  them,  as  a  silent  partner.     Freeman 
&  Co.  despatch  and  receive  an  Express  by  every 
steamship,  and  are   doing  an  extensive    business 
very  satisfactorily  to  their  customers. 

The  Alta  Express  Company,  doing  business  be 
tween  San  Francisco  and  the  principal  mines,  con 
nect  with  Freeman  &  Co.  at  San  Francisco,  and 
occupy  a  portion  of  their  premises  there.  The  gentle 
men  employed  by  that  Express  are  distinguished  for 
their  enterprise  and  cheerful  attention  to  their  duties. 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  127 

Gregory  &  Co.  and  Bedford  &  Co.,  who  were 
early  California  Express -men,  relinquished  the  bu 
siness  after  trying  it  a  few  years. 

Many  of  the  old  employees  of  A.  &  Co.  in  Cali 
fornia  associated  themselves,  in  1855,  as  the  Pacific 
Express  Company,  but  after  a  year  or  two  it  failed, 
and  was  abandoned. 

The  joint-stock  Adams  Express  Company,  though 
composed  mainly  of  men  who  had  never  had  any 
thing  to  do  with  the  California  Express,  suffered 
indirectly  from  the  injury  inflicted  upon  the  name 
of  Adams  Co.  by  the  failure  of  Woods  and  Haskell, 
at  San  Francisco,  but  it  did  not  harm  the  Company 
in  the  esteem  of  such  of  its  customers  as  knew  it 
best,  and  in  a  few  weeks  its  business  received  an 
impetus  which  put  it  far  ahead  of  its  old  positiony 

At  the  same  time  that  Plant  assumed  the  charge 
of  the  Harnden  Express  in  the  Southern  States, 
December  1,  1854,  the  directors  of  the  Adams  Ex 
press  sent  Clapp  Spooner,  (one  of  their  number,) 
to  the  same  section  of  the  country  to  make  con 
tracts  with  the  Railroad  Companies  for  Express 
privileges  for  his  employers  and  associates  on  the 
roads  from  Charleston,  S.  C.,  to  the  westward;  and 
he  succeeded  satisfactorily  in  his  mission.  He  was, 
himself,  the  Superintendent  of  a  Railroad  in  Con 
necticut,  and  had  had,  also,  much  experience  as  an 
Expressman. 

On  the  1st  of  January,  1855,  the  Adams  Express 
commenced  running  from  Charleston  to  Columbia 


128  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

S.  C.,  daily;  also,  from  Charleston  to  Montgomery , 
Ala.,  Atlanta,  G-eo.,  Chattanooga  and  Nashville, 
Tenn.,  and  Augusta,  Ga.  They  had  for  sometime 
prior  had  messengers  on  the  route  from  Charleston 
via  Wilmington,  N.  C.,  and  Weldon  to  Baltimore, 
Philadelphia  and  New  York. 

The  "  Adams  Express"  routes,  in  the  Southern 
quarter,  are  as  follows,  viz:  by  Railroad  from  Au 
gusta,  Charleston  and  Columbia  to  New  York, 
via  Wilmington,  N.  C.;  Weldon,  Petersburg  and 
Richmond,  Ya.;  Washington,  Baltimore  and  Phila 
delphia,  daily.  Freight  Express  every  Wednesday 
and  Saturday,  by  Spofford  &  Tileston's  line  of 
Charleston  steamers:  express  from  Charleston  to 
Augusta,  daily;  from  Augusta  to  Nashville,  Tenn., 
twice  a  day,  via  Atlanta,  Ga.;  and  to  Memphis, 
Tenn.,  daily,  via  M.  &  C.  Railroad,  from  Stevens; 
a  point  on  the  N.  &  C.  Railroad,  which  was  opened 
for  travel  April  1,  1857. 

H.  B.  Plant  is  superintendent  of  both  the  Adams 
and  the  Harnden  lines  in  that  section. 

In  October,  1857,  the  Adams  Co.  established  a 
tri- weekly  Express  between  Memphis  and  New  Or 
leans,  by  the  M.  &  New  Orleans  Packet  Co.'s  line, 
taking  freight  for  all  the  principal  landings  between 
the  two  points.  A.  W.  Swett,  the  agent  there  for 
several  years,  was  succeeded  by  James  E.  Simpson. 
[The  similarity  of  the  name  of  this  very  efficient 
agent  to  that  of  the  original  proprietors  of  the  Ex 
press  there,  leads  some  people  to  infer  that  he  is 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  129 

one  of  them;  on  the  contrary,  he  has  not  been  long 
in  the  business.] 

The  daily  express,  before  mentioned,  from  Char 
leston  to  Augusta  and  Montgomery,  Ala.,  connects 
at  Montgomery  with  their  steam-packet  express 
down  the  Alabama  River  to  Mobile,  and  thence  by 
the  Lake  Pontchartrain  steamers  to  New  Orleans, 
daily,  Sundays  excepted.  They  dispatch,  also,  by 
every  steamship  an  express  between  New  York  and 
New  Orleans — say  from  two  to  three  or  four  each 
way,  every  month. 

The  New  Orleans,  Jackson  and  Great  Northern 
Railroad  is  now  about  completed  to  Jackson,  Miss., 
and  it  is  expected  that  it  will  be  open  to  Grand 
Junction,  on  the  Memphis  and  Charleston  Railroad, 
during  the  year  1858.  In  the  meantime,  the  route 
via  Lynchburg  and  Knoxville,  Tenn.,  will  be  open 
for  travel  and  express  facilities. 

When  the  whole  shall  have  been  completed,  it 
will  constitute  a  continuous  line  of  railway  from 
New  York  to  New  Orleans,  and  the  Adams  Com 
pany  expect  that  their  Parcel  Express  over  it  will 
not  be  more  than  four  days  in  accomplishing  the 
trip!  Four  days'  time  from  New  Orleans  to  New  York 
is  not  bad.  How  much  such  extraordinary  dis 
patch  by  the  Adams  Express  will  do  to  increase  the 
trade  and  communication  between  the  two  great 
cities  of  the  North  and  Southwest,  it  is  impossible, 
of  course,  to  estimate;  but  we  look  for  wonders. 
This  is  the  age  of  the  annihilation  of  space;  and 

9 


130  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

"magnificent  distances"  are  literally  made  easy  by 
railroad  and  express  enterprise. 

It  is  almost  incredible  that  it  was  at  one  time 
done  entirely  by  wagons  and  stages.  And  by  the 
way,  we  ought  to  mention,  perhaps,  that  J.  S.  Lock- 
wood  many  years  ago  (say  about  1840,)  used  to 
drive  a  baggage  wagon  from  Massillon,  0.,  to  Cleve 
land,  semi-weekly,  and  finally  made  it  an  Express 
line;  associating  with  him  G.  W.  Huntington,  now 
of  Canton,  0.  When  the  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania 
Railroad  was  completed,  they  extended  their  opera 
tions  to  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  but  were  induced  to  sell 
out,  two  or  three  years  ago,  to  the  Adams  and 
American  Express  Companies,  who  call  it  the 
Union  Line  Express. 

Clapp  Spooner  and  Alfred  Gaither,  both  experi 
enced  agents  formerly,  are  now  among  the  most 
active  and  useful  managers  of  the  Adams  Express. 
Gaither  is  superintendent  of  the  Western  Division, 
and  resident  manager  at  Cincinnati.  He  is  a  gentle 
man  quite  popular  in  that  section,  and  respected  in 
this. 

Knoxville  is  quite  an  enterprising  place,  and  the 
people  are  both  surprised  and  delighted  by  the 
rapidity  and  promptness  of  the  Express  in  the 
transportation  and  delivery  of  their  goods.  The 
same  remark  will  apply  to  Petersburg,  Va.,  and 
many  other  places  in  the  South. 

Alvin  Adams  continues  to  be  the  manager  of  the 
Boston  terminus  of  the  Company's  business. 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  131 

The  superintendent  of  the  South-eastern  Division 
is  S.  M.  Shoemaker.  Of  the  Baltimore  office,  under 
his  supervision,  we  have  already  spoken. 

E.  W.  Parsons,  superintendent  of  the  Eastern 
Division,  is  indefatigable  in  his  attention  to  his  du 
ties,  and  is  much  liked. 

The  very  able  and  popular  cashier,  and  corre 
sponding  clerk,  in  the  New  York  office,  J.  C.  Bab- 
cock,  was  formerly  a  bank  cashier. 

E.  P.  McCullagh,  superintendent  of  the  Phila 
delphia  office,  has  had  the  advantage  of  many  years' 
experience,  and  is  highly  esteemed  for  the  judicious 
and  thorough  manner  in  which  he  has  always  dis 
charged  his  laborious  and  responsible  duties.  Cole- 
man,  Gorman,  Piers  arid  Bell  are  old  Express-men 
in  that  department. 

E.  S.  Sanford  is  General  Superintendent  of  all 
the  routes  of  the  Adams  Express  Company. 

KINSLEY  &Co.'s  EXPRESS,  which  was  consolidated, 
as  we  have  said,  with  several  others  in  July,  1854, 
to  form  the  Adams  Express  Company,  was  begun 
by  Gay  &  Co., (James  Gay  &  E.  Littlefield,)  who  run 
an  Express  between  Boston  and  New  York,  via 
Stonington,  in  1842.  They  carried  only  a  trunk  of 
parcels,  and  had  no  contract.  Gay  would  run  one 
way,  and  Littlefield  the  other;  and  each  had  the 
profits  which  he  happened  to  make  upon  each  day's 
work,  and  pocketed  the  same,  without  being  expect 
ed  to  render  an  account  to  his  nominal  partner. 
This  arrangement,  apparently  so  primitive  and 


132  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

simple,  did  not  work  well  in  the  long  run,  and 
Littlefield  retired  from  it.  Kinsley  next  joined  Gay, 
and  the  firm  was  styled  Gay  &  Kinsley.  The  lat 
ter,  for  some  years  past  president  of  a  bank  at 
Newport,  R.  I.,  has  become  eminent  as  an  Express 
man.  Gay  served  as  messenger. 

Subsequently  C.  H.  Valentine  became  associated 
with  them.  Gay,  Kinsley  &  Co.  made  their  first 
trip  by  the  Fall  River  line,  May  18,  1847,  in  the 
steamer  Bay  State,  Capt.  Comstock.  Sanford  & 
Shoemaker  bought  out  Gay  and  Valentine's  interest 
two  or  three  years  afterwards,  and  it  then  took  the 
name  of  Kinsley  &  Co.'s  Express,  which  it  still 
bears.  Though  consolidated  with  the  Adams  Ex 
press  Company,  it  has  a  distinct  organization  of  its 
own. 

The  New  York,  Newport  and  Fall  River  route, 
over  which  Kinsley  &  Co.'s  Express  has  run  ever 
since  it  opened,  has  always  been  a  popular  one.  The 
first  passengers  and  freight  via  the  Fall  River  and 
Old  Colony  Railroad  (as  it  is  called)  were  sent  in 
December,  1846.  From  June  1,  1845,  up  to  that 
time,  the  Fall  River  Railroad  intersected  with  the 
New  Bedford  and  Taunton  Railroad,  at  My  rick's, 
twelve  miles  from  Fall  River.  There  has  not  been 
any  stage  line  through  from  Fall  River  to  Boston 
since  about  two  years  after  the  Branch  Road  was 
built,  about  twenty  years  ago.  The  last  stages 
through  to  Boston  were  owned,  from  Newport  to 
Fall  River,  by  R.  B.  Kinsley;  from  Fall  River  to 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  133 

Taunton  by  Edward  Bennett,  of  the  former  place; 
from  Taunton  to  Stoughton  by  Jesse  Smith;  from 
Stoughton  to  Boston  by  Drake,  Blake  &  Co.  Kins 
ley,  and  all,  or  nearly  all  these  gentlemen  had  been 
drivers  in  their  time.  They  knew  their  business, 
and  performed  it  well. 

The  Fall  River  steamboats  plying  between  that 
place  and  New  York  have  always  borne  an  excellent 
reputation.  L.  Y.  Tilton,  the  very  popular  steward 
of  the  "  Metropolis,"  was  for  many  years  a  messen 
ger  in  the  employ  of  Kinsley  &  Co. 

The  New  York  office  is  in  charge  of  Littlefield, 
who  has  been  in  the  business  about  fifteen  years. 
His  principal  assistant  is  E.  F.  Sweet,  to  whom  we 
have  before  referred,  as  among  the  earliest  of  Harn- 
den's  men.  A  high  value  is  placed  upon  their  ser 
vices. 

Warren  Studley  was  one  of  the  oldest  messengers 
on  this  line.  Luke  Damon  has  been  in  its  service 
several  years.  The  Boston  office  has  been  for  a 
long  time  in  charge  of  Henry  Kinsley. 

"  THE  NEW  JERSEY  EXPRESS  COMPANY"  was  char 
tered  by  the  Legislature  of  that  state  in  1854.  It 
incorporated  Amos  Day,  P.  W.  Martin,  Amzi 
Dodd,  R.  G.  Rankin,  and  A.  S.  Dodd.  Capital 
$100,000.  Day  had  long  been  an  Express-man. 

Its  route  was  over  the  New  Jersey  and  Camden 
and  Amboy  Railroads.  For  several  years  it  was 
conducted  mainly  by  Messrs.  A.  S.  Dodd  and  C.  A. 
Darling,  gentlemen  formerly  connected  with  the 


134  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

National  Express.  It  has  offices  in  New  York, 
Newark,  Elizabeth,  Rah  way,  New  Brunswick, 
Princeton,  Trenton,  Burlington,  and  Bordentown. 

The  New  Jersey  Express  Co.  extended  their 
route  to  Philadelphia,  Nov.  1,  1854;  and  the 
Adams  Express  Company  took  a  considerable  in 
terest  in  its  success.  The  president  is  J.  Yan  Ren- 
salaer,  of  Jersey  City, and  the  superintendent  C.  A, 
Darling,  of  New  York. 


Ever  since  the  commencement  of  the  Express  by 
Alvin  Adams,  it  has  had  a  contract  with  the  Nor 
wich  and  Worcester  line  between  New  York  and 
Boston;  and  as  the  subject  comes  naturally  within 
the  sphere  of  this  work,  we  beg  leave  to  insert, 
here,  some  facts  relating  to  the  history  of  that 
popular  route  of  express-men  and  travelers. 

The  following  is,  we  believe,  a  correct  list  of  the 
steamboats  used  between  New  York  and  Norwich,. 
Conn.,  during  the  last  thirty-five  years,  viz:  in  1823,. 
the  Fulton  and  Connecticut;  the  Henry  Eckford,  a 
little  later;  in  1826,  the  Fanny;  soon  afterwards  the 
Long  Branch,  and  for  a  short  time,  the  Chief  Justice 
Marshall;  in  1832,  the  General  Jackson,  (when 
Thomas  Burns  began  his  popular  career  as  a  steward 
for  this  line,  in  which  service  he  remains;)  in  1836, 
the  Norwich;  in  1839,  the  Charter  Oak;  in  1841,  the 
Worcester;  in  1844,  the  Cleopatra,  put  on  by  Cor 
nelius  Yanderbilt,  who  had  just  bought  out  the  line. 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  135 

He  sold  out  in  1845  or  '46  to  the  Long  Island  Rail 
road  Co.  In  1848  the  Norwich  and  Worcester 
Railroad  Co.  put  on  the  ill-fated  Atlantic,  which 
was  wrecked  on  Fisher's  Island,  in  the  winter  of 
that  year.  The  Knickerbocker  was  put  on  in  her 
place.  A  few  months  later  the  line  was  sold  to  its 
present  public-spirited  and  enterprising  proprietors, 
the  Norwich  and  New  London  Steamboat  Co.,  who 
added  the  present  elegant  and  commodious  Connec 
ticut,  a  steamer  which  is  still  the  admiration  of  all 
who  are  familiar  with  her  construction,  and  are 
good  judges  of  boat  building.  Capt.  Wm.  Wilcox, 
her  very  worthy  commander,  was  a  pilot  on  the 
line  from  1838  to  1850,  when  he  assumed  his  pres 
ent  position.  Bacon,  the  clerk,  is  worthy  of  her. 
The  staunch  little  Worcester  continued  to  run  regu 
larly  until  1855,  when  the  Company,  surpassing  all 
previous  triumphs  in  steamboat  construction,  built 
the  Commonwealth,  a  magnificent  craft  both  in  size 
and  beauty,  and  without  a  superior  in  the  world. 
For  our  own  part  we  have  never  seen  her  equal. 
J.  W.  Williams,  (who  had  been  on  the  line  as  pilot 
and  captain  ever  since  1834,)  took  the  command  of 
her,  and  still  has  it,  very  much  to  the  satisfaction 
of  the  traveling  public.  George  Geer,  the  clerk  of 
the  Commonwealth,  (a  gentleman,  whose  value,  in 
his  position,  cannot  be  too  highly  appreciated,) 
though  still  young,  has  had  many  years  of  experi 
ence  in  his  business;  but  the  veteran  on  board  that 
boat  is  her  engineer,  Thomas  Carter,  who  has  been 


136  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

on  the  Sound  more  than  thirty  years.  The  suppers 
on  board  this  floating  palace  add  to  its  reputation 
by  their  excellence.  Coyle,  steward  of  the  Com 
monwealth  for  two  years  past,  was  formerly  on  the 
Daniel  Webster,  plying  between  Boston  and  Maine. 
E.  S.  Martin  is  the  faithful  and  experienced  agent 
of  the  line  in  New  York,  and  C.  Pratt,  Jr.,  in  Bos 
ton.  The  latter  gentleman  was  for  many  years  one 
of  its  conductors  through  from  New  York  to  that 
city.  He  was  succeeded  by  David  R.  Waller,  who 
is  regarded  as  having  few  equals,  and  no  superiors 
as  a  conductor.  Barton,  the  conductor  running  on 
opposite  nights,  is  another  faithful  servitor  of  the 
line.  They  use  the  sixteen-wheeled  cars,  which  are 
far  safer  and  more  agreeable  than  the  common  cars. 


THE  ADAMS  EXPRESS  COMPANY. 

June,  1858. 

PRESIDENT: 

William  B.  Dinsmore,  of  New  York. 

Y  ICE-PRESIDENT: 
Edwards  S.  Sanford,  of  Philadelphia. 

SECRETARY: 
James  M.  Thompson,  of  Springfield,  Mass. 

MANAGERS: 

Johnston  Livingston,  W.  B.  Dinsmore,  J.  M. 
Thompson,  E.  S.  Sanford,  S.  M.  Shoemaker,  R.  B. 
Kinsley,  Clapp  Spooner,  Alfred  Gaither,  and  John 
Bingham. 


HENRY   WELLS. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  EXPRESS  BUSINESS. 


HENRY  WELLS'S  EXPRESS  ENTERPRISE.  LIVINGSTON  &  FARGO.  WELLS, 
BUTTERFIELD  &  Co.  THE  ORIGIN  OP  THE  AMERICAN  EXPRESS  Co.;  ITS 
PROGRESS  AND  PRESENT  OPERATIONS.  WELLS,  FARGO  &  Co.'s  CALIFOR 
NIA  EXPRESS.  THE  NATIONAL  EXPRESS  Co.  THOMPSON  &  Co.  HOWARD 
&  Co.  CHENEY  &  Co.  FISKE  &  Co.  THE  EASTERN  EXPRESS  Co.  THE 
UNITED  STATES  EXPRESS  Co.  THE  HOPE  EXPRESS  Co.  THE  CENTRAL 
EXPRESS  Co.  THE  WESTERN  EXPRESS  Co.  THE  MANHATTAN  EXPRESS 
Co.  SMALLER  LOCAL  EXPRESSES. 

WE  commence  our  History  of  the  Express  busi 
ness  west  of  Albany,  with  the  portrait  of  the  man 
whom  we  regard  as  its  projector;  perhaps  we  ought 
to  say,  its  founder.  In  this  excellent  likeness  of 
Henry  Wells,  a  good  physiognomist  will  readily  de 
tect  the  traits  of  character  which  have  made  him 
eminent  as  an  Expressman.  It  is  the  picture  of  no 
ordinary  person.  No  one  will  pass  it  by  with  a 
cursory  glance,  as  a  commonplace  countenance. 
It  is  a  face,  distinguishable  in  a  crowd.  It  is  the 
"  counterfeit  presentment"  of  a  man  who  has  experi 
enced  every  variety  of  fortune,  and  overcome  nu 
merous  obstacles  to  attain  the  elevated  and  influ 
ential  position  which  he  now  holds,  as  President  of 
the  American  Express  Company. 


140  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

Henry  Wells,  like  Alvin  Adams,  is  a  native  of 
Vermont.  When  he  was  about  six  years  of  age, 
he  came  with  his  father  and  family  to  New  York 
State,  and  he  has  resided  here  ever  since.  Of  his 
early  history  and  business  life  we  know  but  little. 
In  1836,  he  was  employed  in  the  service  of  forward 
ing  passengers  and  freight  over  the  Erie  Canal  and 
the  lakes,  and  Pennsylvania  lines  of  transit,  to  the 
Ohio  River;  in  which  occupation  he  continued  until 
engaged  by  Harnden  &  Co.,  in  1841. 

As  a  forwarder,  Wells  made  numerous  warm 
friends  by  his  fine  presence,  genial  manner,  and  al 
ways  manly  course.  With  the  owners  and  agents 
of  the  People's  Line  of  steamboats  on  the  Hudson 
River  he  was  a  great  favorite;  and  it  was  by  his 
influence  with  Isaac  Newton  and  Daniel  Drew,  that 
Harnden  &  Co.  obtained  express  facilities  upon 
that  route.  Indeed,  it  was  mainly  to  secure  the  aid 
of  that  influence  that  Harnden  engaged  W.,  at  (what 
was  then  regarded)  a  large  salary,  to  act  as  agent 
of  the  river  Express. 

Upon  making  this  arrangement,  Henry  Wells 
leased  an  office  in  Albany,  in  his  own  name,  and 
took  in  with  him  his  son,  Charles  H.  Wells,  to  assist 
him  in  the  routine  of  the  Express.  That  was  where 
11  Charley  Wells,"  (since  so  efficient  and  popular  as 
a  messenger,  an  agent,  and  now  Assistant  Superin 
tendent,)  received  his  first  lessons  in  the  Express 
business. 

In  view  of  the  rapid  growth  of  Western  New 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  141 

York  and  the  Great  West,  as  it  was  called,  Henry 
Wells  recommended  Harnden  &  Co.  to  extend  their 
express  line  from  Albany  to  Buffalo,  and,  as  soon 
as  the  facilities  of  transportation  would  warrant  it, 
to  Chicago,  &c.  Harnden  thought,  as  has  been 
stated  in  our  history  of  him,  that  it  would  be  many 
years  before  such  an  enterprise  could  be  made  re 
munerative,  and  he  declined  to  commence  it.  "If 
he,  Wells,  chose  to  run  an  Express  to  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  he  might;  he  would  not  do  it"  Harnden 
little  thought  when  he  said  so,  that,  in  1858,  his  hy 
perbole  would  be  in  a  fair  way  to  become  a  fixed 
fact. 

Wells's  originating  mind,  and  disposition  to  put 
his  own  ideas  into  effect — in  other  words,  to  have 
his  own  head — had  an  unfavorable  influence  upon 
Harnden  &  Co.'s  confidence  in  his  devotion  to  their 
interests.  In  truth,  Wells  was  not  a  man  to  play 
second  fiddle  to  anybody.  He  was  better  fitted  to 
lead  than  follow.  Unquestionably,  Harnden  was 
jealous  of  him,  and  feared  that  the  agent  might  be 
come  a  rival.  At  all  events,  there  was  a  rupture 
between  them  after  Wells  had  served  only  a  few 
months,  as  we  have  mentioned  in  the  earlier  por 
tion  of  this  work,  and  a  new  agent  was  substituted. 

At  that  time,  George  Pomeroy  (subsequently 
famous  as  an  Expressman)  was  a  freight  and  pas 
senger  forwarder;  and  Crawford  Livingston,  his 
partner  at  a  little  later  period,  was  agent  of  the 
Mohawk  and  Hudson  Railroad  from  Albany  to  Sche- 


142  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

nectady.  At  Wells's  suggestion,  Pomeroy  started  an 
Express  from  Albany  to  Buffalo.  /  He  made  three 
trips,  acting  as  his  own  messenger,  but  never  serv 
ed  again  in  that  capacity.  His  Express  had  been  re 
linquished  for  some  time,  when  Crawford  Livingston 
proposed  to  Henry  Wells  that  they  should  join  him 
in  resuming  the  enterprise.  Wells  consented,  and 
Pomeroy  &  Co.'s  Albany  and  Buffalo  Express  was 
established  upon  an  enduring  foundation.  Its 
transportation  at  that  time,  (1841,)  was  by  Kail- 
road  to  Auburn;  thence  by  stage,  25  miles,  to  Gen 
eva;  thence  by  Auburn  and  Rochester  R.  R.  to 
Rochester;  thence  to  Lockport,  60  miles,  by  stage; 
thence  to  Buffalo,  30  miles,  by  private  conveyance; 
and  also  from  Rochester  to  Batavia,  34  miles,  by 
Tonawanda  R.  R. ;  and  thence  to  Buffalo,  40  miles, 
by  stage.  The  trip  was  made  once  a  week,  and  oc 
cupied  four  nights  and  three  days.  It  is  now  ac 
complished  in  about  eleven  hours  each  way. 

The  Mohawk  and  Hudson  R.  R.,  the  Utica  and 
Schenectady  R.  R.,  the  Syracuse  and  Utica  R.  R., 
the  Auburn  and  Syracuse  R.  R.,  all  had  been  in 
operation  about  a  year.  The  Rochester  and  Au 
burn  R.  R.  and  the  Tonawanda  R.  R.  were  only 
partially  built;  the  Attica  and  Buffalo  R.  R.  had  not 
been  begun.  These  seven  railways  now  compose 
the  great  New  York  Central  Railroad  from  Albany 
to  Buffalo,  which,  under  the  management  of  that 
experienced,  wise,  and  famous  Railroad  President, 
Erastus  Corning,  has  done  so  much  to  fill  up  the 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  143 

West  with  an  enterprising  population,  and  to  serve, 
as  a  cornucopia  of  Ceres,  to  empty  into  the  lap  of 
New  York  and  the  Eastern  States  the  vast  supplies 
of  food  by  which  millions  here  and  in  Europe  have 
been  fed  during  the  last  fifteen  years. 

When  Crawford  Livingston,  Henry  Wells,  and 
George  Pomeroy  started  their  Express,  Erastus 
Corning  was  President  of  the  Utica  and  Schenec- 
tady  Railroad  Co.  He  was  very  friendly  to  their 
undertaking,  but  would  not  grant  them  any  facili 
ties  that  were  not  equally  free,  at  all  times,  to  any 
one  who  was  willing  to  pay  for  them.  Nor  has  any 
Express,  at  any  time,  possessed  any  greater  privi 
leges  upon  that  route,  than  were  enjoyed  by  Pom 
eroy  &  Co.,  the  pioneers  of  the  American  Express 
Company.  Henry  Wells,  their  partner,  run  as  mes 
senger  for  about  eighteen  months,  during  one  year 
of  which  he  never  missed  a  trip.  In  every  instance 
he  paid  his  fare,  and  for  extra  baggage,  like  any 
other  passenger.  At  the  outset,  the  fare  from  Al 
bany  to  Buffalo  was  $15,  but  in  1843  it  was  re 
duced  to  $12. 

The  new  Express  did  not  progress  very  swim 
mingly  the  first  year  or  two.  and  to  increase  its 
business  to  a  degree  barely  remunerative,  \Henry 
Wells  made  the  acquaintance  of  farmers,  fishermen,y 
and  merchants  along  the  line,  and  offered  to  take 
any  kind  of  freight  for  them,  and  do  his  best  to  ac 
commodate  them  in  the  transaction  of  all  sorts  of 
errands  and  commissions.  A  semi-weekly  Express 


144  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

was  put  on,  and  another  messenger,  (Thad.  Pom- 
eroy  or  Sam.  Lee.)  Crawford  Livingston  served  as 
messenger  only  twice.  In  1843,  the  trips  were 
made  daily,  and.  in  order  to  sustain  it,  all  sorts  of 
commodities,  such,  for  instance,  as  shad,  lobsters, 
green  corn,  fruit,  oysters,  &c.,  came  to  be  regarded 
as  desirable  express  freight.  Besides,  it  accommo 
dated  the  people  along  the  line,  and  Wells  was  de 
termined  to  render  the  Express  as  popular  an  in 
stitution  in  New  York  and  the  West  as  it  was  in 
the  Eastern  States.  Naturally  of  a  kind  and  oblig 
ing  disposition,  he  took  every  pains  to  serve  faith 
fully  every  class  of  customers,  without  regard  to 
the  inadequacy  of  the  compensation. 

In  1842,  he  carried  all  the  valuable  express  par 
cels  in  one  carpet  bag;  and  a  medium-sized  packing 
trunk  held  the  rest  of  his  weekly  freight.  In  1843, 
it  was  still  one  trunk,  but  the  size  of  it  had  in 
creased,  and  every  year  it  grew  larger  and  larger, 
until  one  day  Brooks,  the  Superintendent  of  the 
Auburn  and  Rochester  R.  R.,  (afterwards  the  very 
efficient  and  successful  builder  and  President  of  the 
Michigan  Central  R.  R.,)  was  forced  to  exclaim,  as 
his  eyes  fell  upon  Wells's  baggage,  that  "  of  all  the 
wonderful  growths  that  he  had  seen  in  the  West,  there 
was  none  equal  to  that  express  trunk!" 

Having  alluded  to  Erastus  Corning  and  J.  W. 
Brooks  as  prominent  Railroad  managers  in  those 
days  of  the  origin  of  railways  in  this  State,  it  may 
be  well  to  insert  here  the  names  of  several  other 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  145 

public-spirited  gentlemen,  who  ought  to  be  remem 
bered  for  similar  services.  They  were  John  Wil 
kinson,  President  of  the  Utica  and  Syracuse  R.  R., 
(the  Chief  Engineer  in  constructing  it;)  E.  P.  Wil 
liams  and  Thomas  Y.  How,  on  the  Auburn  and 
Syracuse  R.  R.;  Sherwood,  of  Auburn;  Gibson,  of 
Canandaigua;  Fellows,  of  Geneva;  Gen.  Gould,  of 
Rochester;  H.  J.  Redfield,  of  Batavia;  Hawkins,  of 
Attica;  and  Oliver  Lee,  of  Buffalo.  Wm.  C.  Young, 
(since  President  of  the  Hudson  River  R.  R.,)  was 
Chief  Engineer  in  constructing  the  Railroad  be 
tween  Utica  and  Schenectady,  assisted  by  another 
able  Engineer,  C.  Yibbard,  some  years  subse 
quently,  and  at  present,  Superintendent  of  the 
New  York  Central  R.  R.  H.  W.  Chittenden,  an 
other  constructing  Engineer  of  that  period,  has 
been  for  some  years  past  Assistant  Superintendent 
on  the  same  Railroad,  at  Syracuse. 

The  managers  of  the  various  railroads  which 
we  have  mentioned  were  all  favorably  disposed  to 
Pomeroy  &  Co.,  but  lest  one  Railroad  Company 
should  make  more  lucrative  terms  with  the  Ex 
pressmen  than  another,  they  agreed  that  each 
should  be  represented  in  every  contract  for  carry 
ing  express  freight,  so  that  all  might  be  satisfied 
with  the  equality  and  fairness  of  the  compensation. 

The  charges  for  transportation  of  freight  in  1841 

and  '42,  were  $4  per  100  Ibs.  from  New  York  to 

Buffalo,  $6  to  Detroit,  and  $8  to  St.  Louis.     In 

the  winter,  the  rate  was  $14  to  Detroit  and  $18  to 

10 


146  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

St.  Louis;  time,  12  days  to  the  former,  and  20  days 
to  the  latter  city ! 

The  prominent  stage  owners  and  mail  contract 
ors  were  Asa  Sprague,  and  Thorpe  &  Sprague,  at 
Albany.  Afterwards,  Faxton,  Butterfield  &  Co., 
at  Utica,  and  Sherwood  &  Co.,  at  Auburn. 

The  associated  banks,  to  the  number  of  40  or  50, 
employed  E.  J.  Humphrey  by  the  year,  to  act  as 
their  messenger  in  making  their  exchanges  with 
each  other;  and  he  was  in  the  custom  of  travelling 
from  Albany  to  Buffalo  once  a  fortnight  upon  that 
business. 

In  1842  or  >43,  the  Special  Agent  of  the  U.  S. 
Mail  Department,  Lewis  Eaton,  made  overtures  to 
Pomeroy  &  Co.,  to  do  their  express  business  by 
means  of  the  U.  S.  Mail  facilities  upon  their  route, 
but  they  declined  to  connect  with  the  Government, 
always  claiming  to  be  "the  people's  line." 

Eaton  made  a  similar  proposition  to  Humphrey, 
the  bank  messenger,  to  whom  we  have  already 
alluded.  H.  snapped  at  the  bait,  and  the  arrange 
ment  was  completed.  As  a  preliminary  step  in 
this  extraordinary  game  of  the  astute  Postmaster 
General,  Humphrey  was  made  Superintendent  ol 
Mails  between  Albany  and  Buffalo!  This,  in  con 
nection  with  his  business  for  the  banks,  it  was 
thought,  would  render  what  may  be  called  the  Gov 
ernment  or  Postmaster  General's  Express  Company, 
a  strong  concern,  and  sure  to  run  Pomeroy  &  Co. 
off  the  course.  Humphrey  then  bought  out  Harn- 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  147 

den  &  Co.'s  Hudson  River  Express  for  $2.500,  but 
it  was  out  of  their  power  to  give  him  possession 
of  it  until  the  lapse  of  60  days'  notice  to  certain 
parties. 

In  the  meantime,  Humphrey  employed  the  mail 
agents,  between  Albany  and  Buffalo,  as  Express 
messengers,  and  the  mail  car  for  express  freight! 
Thus  was  commenced  the  first  systematic  opposition 
by  Government,  and  the  earliest  express  business 
on  record,  of  the  Post  Office  Department!  Since 
then,  though  the  Department  has  refused  Express 
Companies  the  right  to  carry  letters,  it  has  not 
scrupled  to  receive  express  freight,  such  as  boxes 
of  coin  and  jewelry,  as  "mailable  matter;"  and  it 
still  daily  encumbers  the  mails  with  such  incongru 
ous  packages. 

However,  the  Post  Office  experiment  at  express 
ing  did  not  last  long.  Humphrey  had  the  misfor 
tune  to  have  his  mail  express  car  switched  off  one 
day,  by  accident,  of  course,  and  the  train  rushed 
off,  leaving  it  to  wait  24  hours.  Soon  after,  the 
same  accident  occurred  again;  and  all  this  within 
the  first,  and  last,  week  of  the  enterprise!  Hum 
phrey  commenced  his  express  on  Monday  morning, 
and  wound  it  up  on  the  following  Saturday  night. 

Thus  ended  the  first  opposition  express  upon  that 
route.  Humphrey,  we  believe,  obtained  the  nom 
inal  ownership  of  Harnden  &  Co.'s  Hudson  River 
Express,  but  never  made  a  trip,  and  probably  never 
paid  the  purchase  money. 


148  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

Pomeroy  &  Co.  then  commenced  running  a  river 
express,  and  had  for  competitors  Pullen  &  Copp. 
This  continued  only  a  few  months,  when  P.  &  C. 
gave  up  the  Albany  and  Western  business,  and 
took  the  Troy  and  Northern  route,  acting  as  Pom 
eroy  &  Co.'s  messengers  on  the  river,  as  it  was  en 
tirely  convenient  for  them  to  do  so.  It  was  in  this 
service  that  Copp  was  robbed  of  his  trunk  contain 
ing  $64,000  of  money  and  $500,000  of  registered 
notes,  not  yet  signed  by  the  bankers.  The  history 
of  that  remarkable  robbery,  and  the  still  more  sin 
gular  recovery  of  it,  is  one  of  the  most  interesting 
chapters  in  express  experience,  and  it  will  be  found 
in  a  subsequent  part  of  this  work. 

In  the  course  of  a  year  or  two,  the  style  01 
11  Pomeroy  &  Co."  was  altered  to  Livingston,  Wells 
&  Pomeroy,  and  again  to  Livingston,  Wells  &  Co., 
when  Pomeroy  retired  from  the  business. 

The  second  opposition  Express  on  that  route  was 
put  on  in  1843,  by  Bailey  &  Howard,  of  whom  we 
shall  speak  more  fully  in  our  history  of  N.  Gr.  How 
ard.  It  was  abandoned  after  a  few  weeks'  trial. 
Bailey  &  Jacobs  next  put  on  an  Express,  but  Ja 
cobs  getting  into  some  trouble  with  Her  British 
Majesty's  officers  of  the  Customs,  in  Canada,  went 
away;  we  don't  know  where,  only  that  after  that 
trip  up,  he  never  made  another,  and  the  "line" 
was  discontinued. 

The  most  important  fact  in  Livingston,  Wells  & 
Co.'s  history  in  the  year  prior  to  the  memorable  re- 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  149 

duction  in  postage  by  a  law  of  Congress,  was  the 
establishment  of  their  Letter  Express  between  New 
York  and  Buffalo.  The  Post  Office  was  then  charg 
ing  25  cents  for  a  single  letter  between  these  places. 
Livingston,  Wells  &  Co.,  at  the  suggestion  of  Henry 
Wells,  advertised  to  carry  a  single  letter  for  six 
cents,  or  they  would  sell  twenty  stamps  for  one 
dollar.  This  enterprise,  in  defiance  of  the  Gov 
ernment's  assumed  prerogative  to  monopolize  the 
conveyance  of  letters,  caused  great  excitement  in 
the  West.  Public  meetings  were  called,  and  reso 
lutions  passed  by  the  merchants  and  citizens  gen 
erally,  not  to  send  or  receive  letters  by  mail  to  or 
from  any  points  where  expresses  run,  until  there 
was  a  reduction  in  U.  S.  postage  rates.  Livingston, 
Wells  &  Co.'s  Letter  Express  was,  of  course,  warmly 
approved  and  largely  patronized  by  the  public, 
greatly  to  the  chagrin  of  the  Postmaster  General. 

On  the  1st  day  of  April,  1845,  the  Western  Ex 
press  from  Buffalo  to  Cincinnati,  St.  Louis,  Chicago, 
and  intermediate  points,  was  commenced  by  Henry 
Wells,  Wm.  G.  Fargo,  and  another  person,  under 
the  style  of  Wells  &  Co.  There  were  then  no  Rail 
road  facilities  west  of  Buffalo,  and  Fargo,  who  had 
charge  of  the  business,  made  use  of  only  steamboats 
and  wagons.  Wm.  G.  Fargo,  a  native  of  Ononda- 
ga  Co.,  in  this  State,  had  been  in  the  employ  of  the 
Auburn  and  Syracuse  Railroad  for  a  year  or  two, 
when  he  entered  into  the  service  of  Livingston, 
Wells  &  Co.,  as  messenger,  in  which  capacity  he 


150  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

gave  great  satisfaction,  because  of  his  fidelity,  en 
ergy,  good  judgment  and  perseverance  under  dis 
couragements.  He  was  just  the  man,  Henry  Wells 
thought,  to  overcome  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
establishing  a  remunerative  express  business  in  that 
untrodden  field  west  of  Buffalo.  Nor  was  he  des 
tined  to  be  disappointed.  Fargo  worked  with  ex 
traordinary  force,  industry  and  tact  to  accomplish 
what  has  proved  to  have  been  * l  his  mission, "  and  after 
some  years  of  persevering  effort  he  succeeded  in 
founding  a  western  express  upon  a  permanent  basis. 

The  Letter  Express,  started  by  Henry  Wells  in 
connection  with  that  of  James  W.  Hale,  between 
New  York  and  Boston,  now  extended  from  Chicago, 
111.,  to  Bangor,  Me.  The  Government  used  every 
means  to  break  it  up.  At  Utica,  its  officers  arrest 
ed  Wells  &  Co.'s  messengers,  daily;  but  in  every 
instance  citizens  stood  ready  with  bail-bonds  filled 
out  and  executed,  so  that  they  were  enabled  to  go 
on  with  their  letter  bags  without  losing  a  trip.  At 
Buffalo  and  Rochester,  the  entire  letter  mail  over 
the  express  route  was  sent  by  Wells  &  Co.  Offi 
cers  were  upon  the  track  at  every  point,  seeking  to 
thwart  the  enterprise ;  suits  were  instituted  against 
it  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  and  the  Govern 
ment  was  defeated  in  every  case. 

The  conveyance  of  letters  at  one-quarter  the  price 
charged  by  the  Government,  was  the  most  profita 
ble  part  of  the  Express  business;  and  Henry  Wells 
(speaking  for  himself  and  several  responsible  gen- 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  151 

tlemen  who  were  desirous  of  co-operating  with  him 
in  this  matter,)  made  a  proposal  to  Major  Hobbie, 
the  First  Assistant  Postmaster  General,  to  take  the 
entire  Mail  service  of  the  United  States,  including 
the  delivery,  at  the  rate  of  five  cents  per  letter. 
"  Zounds,  sir!"  replied  that  energetic  and  invalua 
ble  official,  "  it  would  throw  16,000  Postmasters  out 
of  office!11  That  was  so:  and  what  would  the  Ad 
ministration  do  without  its  16,000  Postmasters? 
They  constituted  too  important  an  element  of  party 
strength  to  be  set  aside  by  any  postage  reform 
movement.  Of  course,  Wells's  proposition  was  per 
emptorily  rejected;  but  the  very  resolute  and  prac 
tical  opposition  which  he  and  Hale,  and  Harnden, 
and  others  had  initiated  against  the  U.  S.  postage 
rates,  was  so  generally  sustained  by  the  people  in 
all  sections  of  the  country,  that  Congress  was  com 
pelled  to  pass  a  law  at  its  next  session,  reducing  the 
rates  of  postage  to  about  one-fourth  of  what  they 
had  been,  though  not  quite  as  low  as  at  present. 
Thus  the  country  owes  to  the  men  whom  we  have 
named,  and  to  the  Express  Companies,  one  of  the 
most  important  reforms  that  the  mercantile  world 
has  ever  experienced.  As  soon  as  it  was  accom 
plished,  Hale,  and  Wells  &  Co.,  and  the  rest,  relin 
quished  their  entirely  triumphant  competition  with 
the  Post  Office  Department)  and,  thanks  to  the  light 
which  their  demonstration  threw  upon  the  cost  of 
carrying  the  mails !  they  have  had  no  occasion  to 
resume  it;  at  least,  not  in  the  Atlantic  States.  In 


152  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

California,  before  Uncle  Sam  had  any  mail  routes, 
the  Expresses  performed  similar  service,  until  at 
length  post  roads  being  established  by  Government, 
though  very  inefficiently,  the  Expressmen  were 
harassed  by  prosecutions,  &c.,  by  the  Post  Office 
Agent,  into  abandoning  it  there  also.  Still,  it  is  a 
very  common  thing  for  people  to  put  the  Govern 
ment  ten  cent  stamps  upon  their  California  letters, 
to  satisfy  the  law,  and  then  pay  an  Express  for  the 
conveyance;  and  this  they  do  because  they  have 
more  confidence  in  the  express  than  they  have  in 
the  post-office  delivery.  The  simple  truth  is,  that 
the  carrying  of  letters  ought  not  to  be  a  Govern 
ment  monopoly,  but  every  person  should  have  the 
privilege  of  sending  his  letters  by  any  one  who  is 
willing  to  convey  them.  If  that  liberty  existed, 
undoubtedly  the  most  of  all  the  letters,  &c.,  usually 
mailed,  would  go  by  Express. 

At  the  time  of  the  postage  reform,  exchange  in 
Chicago  upon  New  York  was  from  1 3  to  3  per  cent. ; 
in  Cincinnati  it  was  from  1  to  2  per  cent. ;  in  Buf 
falo,  from  1  to  l£  per  cent.  The  establishment  of 
responsible  Express  Companies  immediately  reduc 
ed  the  rates  of  exchange  to  a  little  over  the  mere 
cost  of  transporting  specie,  thus  saving  millions  a 
year  to  the  commercial  community,  and  obviating 
the  necessity  of  continuing  the  United  States  Bank, 
which  had  been  the  regulator  for  many  years  pre 
vious. 

The  firm  of  Livingston,  Wells  &  Co.  was  con- 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  153 

tinned  until  the  latter  part  of  1846.  Just  prior  to 
that,  Henry  Wells  sold  out  his  interest  in  the  West 
ern  Express  to  Wm.  A.  Livingston,  and  that  con 
cern  assumed  the  style  which  it  still  holds,  viz., 
Livingston  &  Fargo.  Wells  then  removed  to  New 
York,  to  assist  his  partner,  Crawford  Livingston, 
in  the  management  of  Livingston,  Wells  &  Co.'s 
Express,  the  business  of  which,  in  this  city,  had 
very  much  increased.  Wm.  A.  Livingston  acted  as 
their  agent  in  Albany,  and  has  served  in  that  ca 
pacity  (with  a  proprietary  interest  at  a  later  period, 
we  believe,)  ever  since. 

In  1846,  or  thereabouts,  Livingston,  Wells  &  Co. 
commenced  their  European  Express,  and  establish 
ed  offices  at  London  and  Paris. 

About  that  time  a  concern  called  "  Henry  & 
Co.'s  Express,"  was  started  upon  the  Albany  and 
Buffalo  route,  paying,  like  L.,  W.  &  Co.,  $100  per 
day  for  railroad  facilities.  If  our  recollection  serves 
us,  this  new  enterprise  was  abandoned  after  the 
first  few  trips.  The  expense  was  too  heavy.  Then 
another  opposition  was  put  on  by  Green  &  Co.,  a 
Baltimore  firm,  who  run  it  six  months,  and  having 
sunk  sixty  thousand  dollars,  gave  it  up  as  a  bad 
job.  The  fact  was,  that  two  harder  men  to  con 
tend  with  could  not  have  been  found  than  Henry 
Wells  and  Crawford  Livingston.  The  former  has 
"made  himself,"  and  it  requires  no  praise  at  our 
hands  to  add  to  his  reputation.  The  latter  was 
known  only  in  the  earlier  phases  of  the  business, 
10* 


154  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

but  we  have  often  heard  the  highest  encomiums  of 
his  wisdom,  ability  and  enterprise  as  an  Express 
proprietor. 

Crawford  Livingston  died  in  1847,  at  his  father's 
residence  in  Livingston,  Columbia  Co.,  in  this,  his 
native  state.  Like  Harnden's,  his  disease  was  con 
sumption,  (a  fell-destroyer  of  many  Expressmen,) 
and  he  was  about  the  same  age  at  his  death,  viz., 
34  years.  It  was  his  last  request,  that  his  partner 
should  allow  his  interest  in  the  Express  to  continue 
for  the  benefit  of  his  widow  and  children;  and  with 
this  Henry  Wells  religiously  complied,  but  the  style 
of  the  firm  was  changed  to  Wells  &  Co.  Its  office 
at  that  time,  and  long  afterwards,  was  at  10  Wall 
Sfreet,  in  a  block  of  buildings  then  occupied  by  the 
principal  expresses,  but  which  was  removed  some 
years  ago  to  make  way  for  modern  improvements. 

Wells,  himself,  was  out  of  health,  when,  by  the 
premature  decease  of  his  excellent  partner,  all  the 
labor  of  conducting  their  constantly  enlarging  ex 
press  operations  devolved  upon  him.  Still,  he  gen 
erously  continued  the  Livingston  interest  for  the 
benefit  of  the  family  of  the  deceased,  until  1848, 
when  Mrs.  L.  voluntarily  withdrew  it.  Shortly  af 
terwards,  Johnston  Livingston  and  Edward  C.  Wins- 
low  each  purchased  a  one-third  interest  in  Wells' 
Express,  and  the  style  of  Wells  &  Co.  was  pre 
served.  Winslow  died  in  1849. 

^In  the  fall  of  that  year  a  formidable  opposition 
Express  was  started  over  the  New  York  Central 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  155 

R.  R.  by  Butterfield,  Wasson  &  Co.  It  was  a  joint-  I 
stock  concern,  with  a  capital  of  $50,000.  John 
Butterfield,  who  was  at  the  head  of  it,  was  no  mean 
competitor.  Like  one  or  more  of  our  railroad  presi 
dents,  he  had  been  a  stage-driver  in  his  younger 
days,  and  a  very  popular  one  he  was,  too.  Before 
long  he  became  a  stage-owner,  and  at  length  the 
sole  proprietor  of  all  the  principal  lines  in  the  cen 
tre  of  this  state.  In  1849,  he  was  engaged  in  the 
transportation  of  freight  across  the  Isthmus  of  Pan 
ama.  He  was  the  projector  of  the  Morse  Telegraph 
Line  between  New  York  and  Buffalo,  and,  after 
building  the  line  by  contract,  put  it  into  successful 
operation.  Enlisting  others  with  him,  he  founded 
a  splendid  line  of  large  and  commodious  steamers 
on  Lake  Ontario  and  the  St.  Lawrence  River.  In 
1848  or  '49,  he  projected  the  joint-stock  Express 
Company,  before  mentioned.  Wasson,  who  was 
associated  with  him  in  this  enterprise,  had  formerly 
been  a  stage  proprietor,  but  was  then  Postmaster 
at  Albany. 

Early  in  1850,  negotiations  were  entered  into 
by  Wells  &  Co.,  Livingston  &  Fargo,  and  Butter- 
field,  Wasson  &  Co.,  for  the  consolidation  of  the 
three  into  one  grand  line.  The  result  was,  that 
the  property  and  good  will  of  W.  &  Co.  were  put 
in  at  a  valuation  of  $50,000,  and  those  of  L.  &  F.  at 
$50,000:  Butterfield,  Wasson  &  Co.  put  in  theirs 
at  $25,000,  and  made  up  the  difference  in  cash. 
Two  firms  were  then  made  of  the  three,  viz:  "Wells, 


156  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

Butterfield  &  Co.,"  and  "  Livingston,  Fargo  &  Co.," 
but  comprised  in  a  joint-stock  concern,  under  the 
style  of  "  The  American  Express  Company."  It 
was  stipulated  that  this  arrangement  should  last 
ten  years.  Henry  Wells,  then  absent  in  Europe, 
was  elected  President  of  the  new  Company,  and  he 
still  serves  in  that  capacity.  At  the  same  time,  Wm. 
G.  Fargo,  of  Buffalo,  was  elected  Secretary;  John 
Butterfield,  of  Utica,  Line  Superintendent;  and  Al 
exander  Holland,  of  Schenectady,  Treasurer.  The 
latter  (a  son-in-law  of  John  Butterfield,)  was  ap 
pointed  New  York  Agent,  and  the  duties  of  this 
important,  responsible,  and  laborious  office,  as  well 
as  those  of  the  treasury  ship,-  he  has  discharged  for 
about  eight  years  past  with  excellent  judgment  and 
the  most  exemplary  fidelity.  It  would  be  hard  to 
find  a  more  unselfish,  true  and  manly  person  than 
Alexander  Holland.  T.  B.  Marsh  was  a  very  use 
ful  man  in  the  Buffalo  office.  James  C.  Fargo, 
Agent  at  Chicago,  and  General  Superintendent  of 
the  Northwestern  Division,  has  been  from  its  com 
mencement  a  very  valuable  aid  to  the  able  men 
already  mentioned.  From  intimate  personal  knowl 
edge,  we  can  speak  of  him  as  a  thorough  gentle 
man,  and  in  every  respect  fitted  to  conduct  an  ex 
tensive  business.  Indeed,  the  Fargos  are  pre-emi 
nently  an  Express  family.  Charles  Fargo,  the  very 
popular  Agent  and  Assistant  Superintendent  at 
Detroit,  is  the  proprietor  of  the  Lake  Superior  Ex 
press,  which  he  started  about  six  years  ago.  Chas. 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  157 

S.  Higgins,  also,  General  Superintendent  of  the 
Southwestern  Division,  has  distinguished  himself  as 
an  Express  manager.  Other  prominent  and  invalu 
able  agents  for  some  years  past,  are  W.  B.  Peck, 
at  Buffalo,  Dr.  Arnett,  at  Suspension  Bridge,  A. 
Seymour,  at  Geneva,  Maj.  Doty,  at  Auburn,  and  L. 
B.  Yan  Dake,  at  Rochester. 

In  1852,  Henry  Wells,  Wm.  G.  Fargo  and  oth 
ers,  projected  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.'s  California  Ex 
press,  of  which  we  shall  speak  more  fully  by  and 
by.  In  that  or  the  following  year,  Wells,  Butter- 
field  &  Co.  removed  the  New  York  Office  of  the 
American  Express  to  the  spacious  and  convenient 
store,  No.  62  Broadway,  where  they  remained  un 
til  the  completion  of  their  present  stately  edifice  in 
Hudson  Street. 

In  the  meantime,  the  Bank  exchanges  performed 
by  the  Company  between  St.  Louis,  Cincinnati, 
Chicago,  Detroit,  Buffalo,  Albany,  New  York,  and 
intermediate  points,  had  become  in  itself  an  im 
mense  business.  The  parcel  and  freight  Express, 
also,  had  increased  a  hundred  fold  within  ten  years. 

Early  in  1854,  another  powerful  opposition  Ex 
press  suddenly  started  into  existence,  and  astonish 
ed  Broadway  with  its  turnout  of  fine  horses  and 
beautiful  vermilion-red  wagons,  with  the  name  in 
elegant  letters  on  the  sides,  "  United  States  Express 
Company."  This  was  not  the  Express  which  bears 
that  name  at  the  present  day.  Its  projectors  were 
Charles  Backus,  Hamilton  Spencer,  and  Henry 


158  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

D  wight,  who,  with  the  aid  of  others,  had  made  it  a 
joint-stock  Company,  with  a  nominal  capital  of  half 
a  million  of  dollars.  Without  making  any  money 
themselves,  it  was  in  the  power  of  the  new  associ 
ates  to  inflict  great  injury  to  the  established  Ex 
press,  and  this  fact  led  to  an  amicable  and  judicious 
arrangement  between  the  old  and  the  new  Com 
pany,  by  means  of  which  the  latter  was  merged  in 
the  former;  its  proprietors  becoming  stockholders 
in  the  American  Express  Company,  which  created 
a  new  stock  at  that  time,  July,  1854,  and  increased 
its  capital  to  $750,000.  In  the  month  of  Septem 
ber,  1855,  the  American  Express  Co.  were  robbed 
of  $50,000.  It  belonged  to  the  Government,  and 
was  promptly  made  good  by  the  Company.  The 
particulars  will  be  given  in  another  part  of  this  work. 
The  Company  now  make  use  of  an  office,  No.  64 
Broadway,  but  in  July,  1858,  they  removed  the 
bulk  of  their  N.  Y.  business  to  their  new  white  mar 
ble  building,  at  the  corner  of  Hudson  and  Jay 
Streets.  It  is  very  conveniently  situated,  upon  a 
line  with  the  Hudson  River  R.  R.,  from  which,  by 
means  of  a  track  of  their  own,  the  American  Ex 
press  Co.  can  run  their  express  cars  right  into  their 
office.  This  site  is  just  100  feet  square,  and  cost 
$100,000.  The  spacious  and  superb  edifice  erect 
ed  by  the  Company  upon  it,  under  the  immediate 
direction  of  Alexander  Holland,  assisted  by  Col.  A. 
M.  C.  Smith,  contains,  besides  the  Express  office,  a 
commodious  store  and  several  large  warerooms. 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  159 

The  cost  of  the  edifice  and  outfit  was  not  far  from 
$130,000.  It  is  the  admiration  of  all  who  pass  that 
way.  The  rooms  and  freight  depot  of  the  Express 
are  ample  and  well-adapted  to  every  requirement 
of  the  business.  The  safe  vaults  of  the  Company 
extend  from  the  foundation  to  the  second  floor, 
where  the  Treasurer  and  Cashier  Rice  have  their 
offices.  In  the  same  story  is  the  Directors'  Room, 
a  lodging  room  for  the  messengers,  the  porter's 
room,  the  janitor's  (Tom's)  premises,  and  a  hand 
some  apartment  for  the  Overland  Mail  Company, 
besides  "  all  the  modern  conveniences." 

These  large  improvements  argue,  of  course,  avast 
augmentation  of  the  public  patronage,  by  which 
this  Company  is  sustained.  This  Express  now  em 
ploys  about  1,300  men,  250  wagons,  and  a  propor 
tionate  number  of  horses. 

John  Upton,  the  hero  of  Spuyten  Duyvil,  was  a 
veteran  messenger  of  this  Company  until  his  de 
cease,  in  1857.  He  was  the  most  faithful  of  "the 
faithful,"  and  that  is  saying  a  great  deal,  for  among 
the  messengers  of  this  Express  we  find  such  men  as 
Luke  Hassert,  and  Whitney,  and  Boniface,  and  oth 
ers  whom  we  would  trust  with  untold  gold.  When, 
by  a  terrible  catastrophe  to  the  R.  R.  train,  the  ex 
press  car  was  pitched  into  Spuyten  Duyvil  Creek 
one  cold  winter's  night,  and  John  Upton  lay  crush 
ed  and  almost  fatally  injured  by  the  side  of  an 
express  safe  containing  more  than  a  million  of  dol 
lars,  he  excited  the  surprise  and  admiration  of  those 


160  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

who  would  have  removed  him  from  his  perilous  sit 
uation,  by  calmly  refusing  to  leave  the  charge  which 
he  had  in  trust.  And  there  did  John  Upton  re 
main,  mangled  and  wet,  and  half-frozen,  until  day 
light  came,  and  with  it  some  agent  of  his  employers 
to  whom  he  could  safely  resign  the  custody  of  the 
valuables  over  which  he  had  stood  guard  through 
out  that  trying  ordeal.  Noble  John  Upton!  your 
memory  will  long  be  cherished  as  one  of  the  truest 
and  most  courageous  of  men.  May  your  example 
ever  be  revered  by  all  connected  with  the  Express  ! 
In  this  connection  we  ought  to  say,  that  in  its 
offices  here  and  in  Buffalo,  Chicago,  St.  Louis  and 
elsewhere,  the  American  Express  has  been  very 
Vxfortunate  in  the  fidelity  of  its  men.  It  would  be 
invidious  to  mention  a  few  only,  and  to  name  all  the 
clerks,  agents,  messengers,  drivers  and  porters, 
who  have  rendered  themselves  honored  for  their 
fidelity  and  usefulness  to  this  admirable  Express, 
would  require  more  space  than  we  can  command. 

ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  AMERICAN  EXPRESS  Co.  1858. 

Henry  Wells,  President. 
John  Butterfield,  Vice-President. 

Wm.  Gr.  Fargo,  Secretary. 
Alexander  Holland,  Treasurer. 

Trustees. 

Henry  Wells,  Johnston  Livingston, 

John  Butterfield,  Hamilton  Spencer, 

Wm.  G.  Fargo,  Wm.  A.  Livingston. 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  161 

General  Superintendent  Eastern  Division,  Col. 
Daniel  Butterfield.  Assistant,  W.  B.  Peck. 

General  Superintendent  Northwestern  Division, 
James  C.  Fargo.  Assistant  Superintendents,  Chas. 
Fargo,  Charles  H.  Wells,  and  J.  H.  Talbot. 

General  Superintendent  Southwestern  Division, 
Charles  S.  Higgins.  Assistant  Superintendents, 
E.  W.  Sloane,  E.  L.  Spencer,  B.  F.  Peckham. 

The  lines  of  this  Company  have  been  greatly  ex 
tended  since  1850;  preceding  the  railroads  where 
they  were  not  yet  constructed,  and  making  use  of 
them  as  soon  as  they  were  built  and  put  into  op 
eration.  Before  completing  this  work,  we  shall 
publish  a  list  of  the  railroads  used  by  the  American 
Express  and  other  Companies,  together  with  a  reg 
ister  of  Express  cities  and  towns. 


THE  NATIONAL  EXPRESS  COMPANY.  The  head 
quarters  of  the  National  Express  Company,  in  New 
York,  is  well  represented  in  our  engraving  of  the 
office,  No.  74  Broadway.  The  original  projector  of 
the  business  now  done  by  this  excellent  Company, 
was  J.  A.  Pullen,  and  he  continues  to  be  one  of  its 
managers.  He  has  already  been  named  in  this 
work,  as  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  efficient  of 
Harnden's  aids.  Before  entering  that  service,  he  was 
agent  for  the  Providence  and  New  York  Steamers 

J.  W.  Richmond  and  Kingston,  and  used  to  travel 
11 


162  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

over  the  route,  from  Boston,  daily.  Of  good  figure 
and  fine  address,  and  enthusiastically  absorbed  in 
the  execution  of  the  express  business  intrusted  to 
him  by  its  pioneer,  Major  Pullen  was  invaluable  as 
a  messenger  in  1840,  between  New  York  and  Bos 
ton;  in  1841,  between  New  York  and  Philadelphia; 
in  1842,  between  New  York,  Albany  and  Troy,  via 
the  Hudson  River  steamboats. 

In  the  winter  of  1842,  or  the  spring  of  1843, 
Harnden  having  sold  out  his  Hudson  River  Ex 
press,  Pullen  &  Copp  started  a  like  business  on  that 
route,  from  New  York  to  Albany,  Troy  and  Sara 
toga  Springs.  At  that  time,  Pomeroy  &  Co.,  who 
had  been  doing  a  business  between  Albany  and 
Buffalo  for  several  months,  extended  their  line  to 
New  York. 

In  1844  or  '45,  by  an  arrangement  between  Pul 
len  &  Copp,  and  Pomeroy  &  Co.,  they  ceased  their 
opposition,  by  making  a  division  of  their  routes — 
the  former  taking  Troy  and  North;  the  latter  Al 
bany  and  West — and  that  arrangement  has  con 
tinued  in  force  to  this  day.  It  led  to  some  reci 
procity  of  service  between  them,  Pullen  &  Copp 
taking  charge  of  Pomeroy  &  Co.'s  Express  trunk 
and  freight  between  Albany  and  New  York.  An 
extraordinary  incident  which  happened  to  Copp,  in 
that  connection,  will  be  related  in  our  budget  of  Ex 
press  anecdotes.  Soon  afterwards,  C.  retired  from 
the  firm,  and  Major  P.  took  E.  L.  Stone  as  a  part 
ner,  under  the  style  of  Pullen  &  Co. 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  163 

In  1843,  a  Mr.  Jacobs  had  started  an  Express 
from  Albany  to  Montreal,  and  continued  it  for  a 
year  or  more.  E.  H.  Yirgil,  since  somewhat  promi 
nent  as  an  Express  proprietor,  acted  as  his  messen 
ger  and  agent  about  a  year,  and  then,  in  company 
with  N.  Gr.  Howard,  purchased  Jacobs'  interest. 
They  called  it  Yirgil  &  Howard's  Express.  Its  route 
was  by  packet  boats  or  stage  from  Albany  to  White 
hall,  and  thence  by  steamers,  via  Lake  Champlain 
and  Railroad,  to  Montreal.  It  connected  at  Troy 
and  Albany  with  Pullen  &  Co.'s.  Early  in  1844, 
H.  F.  Rice  bought  out  Howard's  interest,  and  the 
firm  became  Yirgil  &  Rice.  H.  H.  Haile,  of  Platts- 
burgh,  was  in  their  employment,  and  has  continued 
on  this  line  ever  since.  This  firm,  ere  long,  united 
with  the  other,  under  the  style  of  Pullen,  Yirgil  & 
Co.'s  Express.  Their  route  was  from  this  city,  via 
Northern  New  York  and  Yermont,  to  the  principal 
cities  in  Canada.  It  was  not,  at  that  period,  a  very 
promising  field  of  operation,  and  men  of  less  san 
guine  temperament,  resolution,  and  energy,  would 
have  abandoned  it.  Fortunately,  E.  H.  Yirgil,  upon 
whom  devolved  the  immediate  superintendence  of 
the  offices  and  business  details  upon  the  route,  was 
a  man  of  great  physical  ability  united  to  sagacity, 
experience  and  tenacity  of  purpose.  He  had  a  pe 
culiar  people  to  deal  with,  especially  in  Canada, 
where  they  are  slow  to  enlist  in  new  enterprises. 
It  was  only  by  the  most  untiring  sauvity  and  patient 
demonstration  of  the  uses  and  security  of  the  Ex- 


164  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

press,  for  a  long  time,  that  he  succeeded  at  last  in 
establishing  it  in  that  region  upon  the  same  basis  of 
popular  appreciation  to  which  it  had  so  rapidly  at 
tained  in  Massachusetts  and  New  York. 

In  1849,  the  firm  consisted  of  J.  A.  Pullen,  E. 
H.  Yirgil,  Edward  L.  Stone,  and  C.  A.  Darling. 

Upon  the  opening  of  the  Albany  Northern  Rail 
road  in  1854,  Robert  L.  Johnson,  Wm.  A.  Livings 
ton,  and  W.  E.  Hys  established  a  Northern  Express, 
under  the  style  of  Johnson  &  Co.,  from  Albany  to 
Rutland,  Saratoga,  &c.,  with  a  view  of  extending  it 
into  Canada.  This  enterprise  came  into  competi 
tion  with  Pullen,  Yirgil  &  Co.,  and  after  its  success 
had  become  certain,  it  was  deemed  politic  by  the 
two  concerns  to  consolidate,  especially  as  both  were 
composed  of  old  and  influential  Expressmen,  who 
could  pull  together  far  more  profitably,  and  satis 
factorily,  than  apart. 

Accordingly,  in  the  spring  of  1855,  it  became  a 
joint-stock  Express,  under  the  style  of  the  "  NATION 
AL  EXPRESS  COMPANY,"  capital  stock  $250,000;  D. 
N.  Barney,  President. 

The  General  Manager  of  the  New  York  terminus 
was  J.  A.  Pullen;  the  Agent,  here,  W.  P.  Janes. 
E.  H.  Yirgil,  of  Troy,  was  Superintendent  of  the 
Routes. 

D.  N.  Barney  had  not  been  educated  by  experi 
ence  as  an  Expressman,  but  as  a  Banker.  It  is  true, 
that  he  was  President  of  the  joint-stock  Express 
known  as  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.,  but  it  was  rather  be- 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  165 

cause  of  his  large  experience  and  position  as  a 
banker  and  capitalist,  that  he  became  the  head  of 
two  or  three  of  those  companies,  whose  history  we 
now  have  under  consideration.  The  Express  pro 
prietary  interests,  grown  to  joint-stock  corpora 
tions,  had  assumed  a  financial  phase  not  at  all  com 
prehended  in  Express  routine,  and  it  was  well,  per 
haps,  to  bring  to  their  aid,  under  these  circumstances, 
a  kind  of  talent  and  ability  never  before  demanded 
by  the  exigences  of  the  business.  To  that  fact  we 
ascribe  the  election  of  D.  N.  Barney  as  President 
of  the  National  Express  Company;  the  prosperity 
which  has  attended  the  new  organization,  under  his 
administration  of  its  affairs,  has  fully  vindicated  the 
wisdom  of  the  choice. 

This  Express  now  has  contracts  for  the  best  facili 
ties  which  can  be  afforded  by  the  Hudson  River 
Railroad;  the  Troy  and  Boston  Railroad;  the  Sara 
toga  and  Whitehall  Railroad;  Rutland  and  Wash 
ington,  Western  Yermont  Railroads;  Rutland  and 
Burlington  Railroad,  and  Champlain  and  St.  Law 
rence  Railroad. 

In  the  winter,  they  make  use  of  stages  from  Bur 
lington,  Yt.,  to  Keeseville,  N.  Y.;  in  the  spring,  sum 
mer  and  fall,  the  steamers,  and  the  Plattsburgh  and 
Montreal  Railroad,  via  Rouse's  Point. 

In  Canada,  the  operations  of  the  National  Express 
Company  are  very  important.  Not  the  least  part 
of  their  service  is  the  attention  which  they  give  to 
the  Custom  House  business,  of  which  they  have  a 


166  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

great  deal  to  transact  for  the    merchants   of  the 
United  States. 

The  agent  in  this  city,  W.  P.  Janes,  has  been  in 
the  service  some  ten  or  twelve  years,  and  has  been 
characterized  by  his  assiduous,  though  quiet  atten 
tion  to  his  duties,  and  the  faithful  discharge  of  the 
responsible  trusts  which  he  has  held.  He  has  been 
fortunate  in  his  assistants  and  drivers. 

The  facilities  afforded  by  the  National  Express 
for  daily  communication  between  New  York  and 
the  British  Provinces  in  America,  are  now  exten 
sively  used,  and,  beyond  a  doubt,  they  have  been  of 
incalculable  service  in  promoting  a  better  feeling 
between  the  loyal  subjects  of  Queen  Victoria,  in 
Canada,  and  the  republicans  on  this  side  of  the 
border. 

PULLEN  &  Co.'s  HARLEM  RAILROAD  EXPRESS  is  the 
property  of  the  National  Express  Company.  For 
some  years  past,  its  New  York  office  has  been  at 
No.  2  Tryon  Row.  Probably  no  Express  has  had  a 
harder  or  more  unprofitable  field  of  labor  than  this 
upon  the  line  of  the  New  York  and  Harlem  Rail 
road.  It  is  by  no  means  a  rich  section  of  country, 
nor  has  it  any  flourishing  manufacturing  towns.  The 
little  produce  of  the  farm,  the  dairy,  and  the  work 
shop,  which  comes  to  this  city  from  that  quarter,  is 
mostly  in  the  charge  of  a  set  of  men  called  "freight 
ers,"  who  are  not  only  the  forwarders  but  the  sel 
lers  of  it,  also;  the  freighter  contracts  for  the  privi 
lege  of  a  car  over  the  Railroad,  once  or  twice  a  week, 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  167 

and  uses  it  for  the  purpose  of  taking  his  friends' 
and  neighbors'  stuffs  to  market.  Before  the  opera 
tion  of  the  Railroad,  he  was  accustomed  to  do  the 
same  business  with  a  market- wagon.  In  order  to 
do  a  large  business  upon  this  route,  the  Express 
man  must  also  be  a  market-man. 

This  Express  was  originated  by  E.'  T.  Dudley,  in 
1850,  or  about  that  time.  In  1854  or  '55,  it  was 
purchased  by  Pullen,  Yirgil  &  Co.,  (R.  L.  Johnson 
in  connection,)  and  called  "Johnson  &  Co. 's  Ex 
press."  In  1857,  it  was  styled  Pullen  &  Evans' 
Express;  in  the  spring  of  1858,  it  assumed  the  style 
of  PuUen  &  Co.  Fred.  T.  PuUen,  the  New  York 
agent  for  some  time  past,  (now  ably  assisted  by 
Charles  Janes,  of  the  National  Express,)  has  been 
in  the  business  for  about  six  years.  He  is  a  son  of 
J.  A.  Pullen,  and  there  is  no  young  man  in  the  pro 
fession  more  ambitious,  energetic,  and  efficient  than 
he.  His  men  are  neat  in  their  appearance,  and 
faithful  in  their  service,  and  his  office  is  a  model  of 
neatness  and  system.  Max.  M.  Hayes  is  one  of  the 
oldest  and  most  indefatigable  of  messengers.  0. 
E.  Yosburgh,  the  agent  at  Boston  Corners,  is  one  of 
the  best  that  we  happen  to  know  personally.  Pullen 
&  Co.'s  Express  line  is  about  130  miles  in  extent, 
and  includes  upwards  of  seventy  places  of  delivery 
en  route.  In  another  portion  of  this  work,  we  shall 
insert  lists  of  all  the  cities  and  towns  on  the  routes 
of  the  different  Express  Companies. 


168  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

THOMPSON  &  Co.'s  (Boston)  WESTERN  EXPRESS. 
This  Express  was  commenced  in  1841,  by  William 
F.  Harnden.  Its  route  was  from  Boston  to  Albany, 
via  Springfield,  Mass.  Henry  Wells  was  its  orig 
inal  agent  in  Albany.  James  M.  Thompson,  its 
agent  at  Springfield,  (1842,)  had  been  a  clerk  in  the 
Boston  office.  These  facts,  with  the  more  pertinent 
one,  that  in  1844  Harnden  &  Co.  sold  this  Western 
Express  to  J.  M.  Thompson,  we  have  already  re 
lated  in  our  history  of  Harnden's  enterprise.  The 
new  proprietor  was  shrewd,  systematic  and  perse 
vering,  regular  in  his  habits  and  very  gentlemanly, 
though  rather  reserved  in  his  address.  His  social 
position  has  always  been  superior,  and  his  word  has 
been  considered  as  good  as  his  bond.  The  good 
effect  of  his  management  of  the  Boston,  Springfield 
and  Albany  Express  became  manifest  almost  im 
mediately.  Order,  promptness,  fidelity,  and  a  spirit 
of  accommodation  characterized  all  his  offices.  At 
the  outset  he  had  no  partner,  nevertheless  his  Express 
made  use  of  the  style  of  "  Thompson  &  Co."  as  at 
present. 

E.  Lamb  Stone,  Thompson's  earliest  agent  in 
Albany,  was  succeeded  in  the  autumn  of  1844, 
by  Robert  L.  Johnson,  then  only  17  years  of  age. 
This  smart,  enterprising,  and  faithful  young  man — 
since  so  successful  in  this  kind  of  business — had 
been  for  a  year  or  two  a  clerk  for  Pomeroy  &  Co.'s 
Express,  (a  daily  line  to  New  York,  and  semi-month 
ly  to  Buffalo;)  and  when,  in  May,  1845,  T.  &  Co. 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  169 

and  P.  &  Co.  occupied  the  same  premises  in  Al 
bany,  he  acted  as  agent  for  both. 

In  1844,  J.  M.  Thompson  started  an  Express  by 
stage  and  boat,  from  Springfield  to  Hartford,  and 
by  stage  from  Springfield  to  Northampton,  Green 
field,  and  Brattleboro',  Yt.  When  the  Railroads 
were  completed,  these  Expresses  were  conveyed 
upon  them,  and  still  continue  in  successful  opera 
tion. 

In  1846,  William  N".  Melcher,  formerly  of  Ham- 
den  &  Co.7s  Express,  became  a  clerk  for  Thompson, 
in  the  Boston  office,  at  No.  8  Court  Street.  There 
never  was  a  more  quiet,  yet  careful  and  efficient 
agent  than  Melcher.  Some  five  or  six  years  ago 
he  became  a  partner  with  his  employer. 

In  1847,  R.  L.  Johnson,  the  Albany  agent,  start 
ed  an  Express  between  Albany  and  Troy,  over  the 
Troy  and  Greenbush  Railroad;  running  as  his  own 
messenger,  and  making  the  Bank  exchanges  be 
tween  the  two  cities  the  main  part  of  his  business. 
He  continued  in  this  service  until  the  spring  of 
1853,  when  he  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  taken 
into  the  co-partnership  of  Thompson  &  Co.  We 
say  good  fortune,  because  that  Express  was  doing 
a  very  extensive  and  remunerative  business,  and  it 
has  been  materially  augmented  since  that  time,  by 
reason  of  judicious  management,  superior  agents, 
and  the  growing  prosperity  of  the  communities 
which  it  serves. 

Thompson  &  Co.  connect  with  the  Adams  Ex- 
11* 


170  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

press  Co.  at  Worcester  and  Springfield,  where  they 
have  large  and  commodious  offices;  at  Albany,  they 
connect  with  the  American  Express  Co.;  and  at 
Boston,  with  the  Eastern  Expresses.  The  excellent 
agent  in  Worcester,  J.  H.  Osgood,  since  1854,  has 
had  the  supervision  of  the  General  Express  Agency 
in  that  flourishing  interior  city,  and  has  acted 
equally  for  the  Adams  Express  Co.,  Thompson  & 
Co.,  and  Fiske  &  Co.  His  office  is  one  of  the  most 
useful  in  the  country. 

Thompson  resides  in  Springfield,  and  the  business 
there  is  under  his  immediate  supervision.  When 
he  first  began  the  business  there,  he  occupied  a 
space  of  only  15  feet  by  7  feet,  in  the  lobby  of  the 
Post  Office,  and  did  all  the  work  himself.  Since 
then,  he  has  built  a  commodious  office,  65  feet  by 
50  feet,  and  now  gives  employment  to  13  men  and 
4  horses,  at  that  point.  It  was  our  purpose  to  say 
something  in  this  connection,  in  reference  to  the  re 
markable  growth  of  Springfield  since  the  origin  of 
the  Express;  but  want  of  space  will  not  admit  of 
it.  We  will  venture  to  say,  however,  that  not  one 
of  its  numerous  important  business  establishments 
has  contributed  more  to  its  prosperity  than  the  lib 
eral,  enterprising,  and  public-spirited  James  M. 
Thompson. 

Thompson  &  Co.  have  large  offices,  also,  in  Bos 
ton,  Albany,  Palmer,  Westfield,  Springfield,  North 
Adams,  Chicopee,  Holyoke,  Northampton,  Green 
field,  Keene,  N.  H.,  Brattleboro'  and  Bellows  Falls, 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  171 

Vt.,  besides  agencies  at  every  way-station  on  the 
different  roads  over  which  they  run.  Mr.  G-eer,  a 
valuable  assistant,  is  located  in  the  Springfield  of 
fice.  William  N".  Melcher,  the  resident  Boston  part 
ner,  manages  the  business  at  that  terminus,  and 
Col.  Robert  L.  Johnson  conducts  the  business  in 
Albany,  in  the  same  office,  (the  Merchants'  Ex 
change  Building,)  with  that  immense  medium  of 
parcel  and  package  transportation  throughout  New 
York  and  the  Western  States,  the  American  Ex 
press  Company. 

Before  closing  our  notice  of  the  Boston  and  Al 
bany  route,  it  is  due  to  the  railroad  men  who  have 
been  very  useful,  both  to  the  public  and  the  ex 
pressmen  upon  that  line  of  travel,  that  special  men 
tion  should  be  made  of  them. 

The  President  and  Superintendent  of  the  Boston 
and  Worcester  Railroad,  Genery  Twichell,  has  had 
a  very  remarkable  experience  through  life,  and  one 
that  reflects  credit  upon  him  as  a  self-made  man. 
He  was  a  country  lad  of  limited  education,  and 
without  a  dollar  in  the  world.  His  entire  capital 
lay  in  his  innate  energy,  clear  intellect,  quick  per 
ception,  sound  moral  principles,  cheerful  tempera 
ment,  and  healthy  constitution.  He  had  hardly 
arrived  at  manhood  when  he  became  a  stage-driver 
upon  this  same  Worcester  route  that  we  have  been 
speaking  of.  A  friend  of  ours,  who  remembers 
riding  with  him  occasionally— it  was  before  the 
Railroad  was  in  operation — eulogizes  Twichell  in 


172  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

the  warmest  terms  for  his  accommodating  spirit  and 
happy  faculty  of  making  all  his  passengers  as  com 
fortable  as  possible.  He  had  an  inexhaustible  fund 
of  racy  anecdotes,  which  he  would  tell  so  well,  that 
it  was  a  perfect  treat  to  ride  upon  the  box  with  him. 
He  was  a  general  favorite,  especially  with  the 
country  folks  and  the  girls  and  boys  on  the  road, 
and  with  these  he  always  had  a  joke  to  crack  when 
ever  it  came  in  his  way  to  do  so,  to  the  infinite 
amusement  of  the  travellers  whom  he  had  in  charge. 
He  carried  many  small  and  valuable  parcels,  and 
executed  commissions  for  the  people,  very  like  an 
expressman.  After  a  period,  throughout  which  he 
had  saved  his  liberal  earnings  carefully,  he  was  en 
abled  to  purchase  the  stage  and  team  which  he 
drove  between  Athol  and  Worcester,  or  Boston. 

In  1843,  he  was  engaged  in  driving  a  stage  of  his 
own  between  Barry  and  Worcester.  Not  long  af 
terwards  he  was  part  or  sole  owner  of  a  line  from 
Greenfield,  Mass.,  to  Brattleboro',  Yt.  The  Post 
master-General  about  that  time  advertised  for  mail 
contracts,  and  Genery  Twichell  went  to  Washing 
ton.  It  was  supposed  by  the  owners  of  other  lines, 
who  knew  that  he  had  gone  thither,  that  he  would 
not  undertake  to  execute  more  than  one  contract; 
but  his  own  private  views,  it  appears,  were  some 
what  broader,  for  he  contracted  with  the  Govern 
ment  to  carry  the  mails  upon  a  number  of  routes, 
greatly  to  the  astonishment  of  others  in  the  busi 
ness;  and  what  was  better  still,  he  accomplished 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  17 


what  he  had  undertaken  very  satisfactorily  to  the 
Postmaster-General,  and  came  to  be  regarded  as  a 
sort  of  Napoleon  among  mail  contractors.  He  be 
came  owner  of  a  large  number  of  fine  stages  and 
horses,  and  for  many  years  past  his  wealth  has  been 
attributed  to  his  success  in  that  business.  It  is  a 
good  while  since  he  first  entered  the  Boston  and 
Worcester  R.  R.  Co.'s  service,  at  their  solicitation, 
as  Assistant  Superintendent.  In  this  capacity  he 
was  so  invaluable  to  the  Company,  that  they  gladly 
availed  themselves  of  the  first  opportunity  to  ap 
point  hhn  Chief  Superintendent.  In  1857  or  early 
in  1858,  he  was  elected  by  the  stockholders  to  the 
Presidency,  but  still  acting  as  Superintendent.  His 
life  is  a  forcible  illustration  of  the  old  adage,  that 
"merit,  like  water,  will  find  its  level." 

President  Twichell  has  an  excellent  Assistant 
Superintendent  in  E.  W.  Ridgway.  "We  remember 
this  gentleman  as  a  clerk,  in  1840,  in  the  office  of 
William  Parker,  who  was  then  Superintendent  of 
the  Boston  and  Worcester  R.  R.  Ridgway  after 
wards  served  as  a  conductor,  in  which  position  his 
agreeable  manners,  good  principles,  and  eminent 
business  ability  impressed  the  directors  so  favora 
bly,  that,  in  1855  or  '56,  he  was  appointed  Assist 
ant  Superintendent.  The  original  Superintendent, 
Curtis,  was  killed  on  a  train,  at  an  early  period  in 
the  history  of  that  road.  He  had  thrust  his  head 
out  of  a  car-window,  when  it  came  in  contact  with 
one  of  the  stone  columns  which  at  that  time  sup- 


174  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

ported  the  R.  R.  bridge  in  Washington  Street,  Bos 
ton,  and  his  death  was  instantaneous.  He  was  a 
very  valuable  officer  and  good  citizen,  and  his  un 
timely  death  was  very  generally  lamented.  Wil 
liam  Parker,  his  successor,  filled  the  office  for  a  long 
time,  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the  Company.  He 
resigned  in  1851  or  '52.  Another  valuable  func 
tionary  was  Edwin  Moody,  who  was  agent  of  the 
road  at  Worcester,  for  18  or  20  years.  One  of 
the  oldest  conductors  is  Stephen  Gate.  The  other 
conductors  were  Thomas  Tucker,  Joseph  Moore, 
Geo.  Howe,  and  Fuller.  B.  W.  Hobart  has  been 
conductor  of  the  Express  train  for  some  years.  W. 
H.  Hills,  S.  C.  Heald,  G.  F.  Whiting,  Asa  Hapgood, 
Oliver  M.  Foster,  and  Geo.  Wilder,  also,  were  con 
ductors  in  1857,  and  several  or  all  of  them  con 
tinue  so. 

Upon  the  Western  R.  R.,  between  Worcester  and 
Springfield,  Mass.,  the  veteran  conductor  par  excel 
lence,  is  James  Parker,  formerly  stage  agent  for 
Burt  &  Billings'  line.  He  run  the  first  train  over 
the  Railroad,  accompanied  by  the  Directors,  Sept. 
28,  1839,  and  with  passengers  from  Springfield  to 
Boston,  Oct.  1,  1839.  He  continues  upon  that 
route,  and  though  now  (1858,)  it  is  nearly  twenty 
years  since  he  began,  he  may  be  said  to  have 
scarcely  missed  a  trip  since  then.  In  those  early 
times,  before  Harnden  had  started  the  Express  (for 
sixteen  years  past  owned  and  operated  by  Thomp 
son  &  Co.,)  between  Boston  and  Albany,  Parker 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  175 

augmented  his  income  on  that  R.  R.  materially,  by 
taking  charge  of  money  parcels,  &c.,  and  executing 
commissions  between  the  cities,  as  the  stage-men 
on  some  routes  were  still  doing.  We  have  heard 
many  speak  of  him  as  their  beau  ideal  of  a  perfect 
conductor.  A  gentleman  in  every  sense  of  the 
word,  yet  never  above  the  most  particular  attention 
to  the  smallest  details  of  his  duty  as  a  conductor, 
and  evidently  having  always  at  heart -not  only  the 
safety  but  the  comfort  of  all  his  passengers,  high 
and  low,  rich  and  poor  alike,  he  soon  became  a 
great  favorite  with  all  who  travelled  in  his  train. 
Conductors  can  either  make  or  break  business  for 
the  railroad  employing  them,  according  as  they  dis 
charge  their  duties  to  them  and  the  public;  and 
while  some  men  are  worth  $2,000  a  year  to  a  Com 
pany,  others  employed  in  the  same  capacity  are 
worse  than  worthless.  Fortunately,  there  are  many 
good  conductors,  and  few  poor  ones. 

Foremost  among  those  who  are  of  vastly  more 
value  than  the  amount  of  their  very  limited  sala 
ries  to  the  interests  of  the  R.  R.  Companies  employ 
ing  them,  we  are  free  to  place  James  Parker.  "  It 
is  to  the  intelligence  and  watchfulness  of  such  men," 
says  a  Springfield  editor,  "that  the  community  at 
large  are  greatly  indebted.  Mr.  Parker's  life  and 
experience  has  been  a  monument  to  his  many  vir 
tues,  and  we  take  pleasure  in  giving  the  record  of 
a  man  who  is  so  generally  respected."  In  the  bio 
graphical  notice  from  which  we  extract  the  above, 


176  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

it  is  stated  by  the  editor,  that  from  1839  to  Nov. 
29th,  1856,  Parker  travelled  1,020,562  miles- 
equivalent  to  crossing  the  Atlantic  340  times,  or 
passing  round  the  globe  33  times.  In  other  words, 
he  has  travelled  a  distance  equal  to  the  circum 
ference  of  the  earth  once  in  about  five  months ! 
It  is  somewhat  remarkable,  that  during  his  nine 
teen  years  of  service  as  a  conductor,  his  train  has 
never  met  with  any  serious  accident.  Some  years 
ag°>  by  a  collision  of  a  freight  train  and  a  passen 
ger  train  at  Charlton,  on  the  Western  R.  R.,  sev 
enteen  freight  cars  became  detached  and  rushed 
back,  on  a  down  grade,  towards  East  Brookfield, 
where  Parker's  train  from  Springfield,  en  route '  to 
Boston,  was  waiting.  Among  his  multitude  of  pas 
sengers  was  a  large  delegation  of  Baptist  clergy 
men,  bound  for  a  convention.  The  careful  con 
ductor  was  tarrying  for  the  other  passenger  train 
to  meet  him  there,  as  usual.  Many  minutes  passed, 
and  still  it  had  not  made  its  appearance.  As  usual 
in  such  cases,  many  of  the  passengers  were  unrea 
sonably  impatient  at  the  delay,  and  several  gentle 
men  of  more  respectability  than  prudence,  expos 
tulated  against  Parker's  refusal  to  proceed.  Their 
train,  they  affirmed,  (and  some  feeling  privileged  to 
make  oath,  swore  to  it,)  could  reach  the  next  turn 
out  before  the  other  had  got  there ;  or,  on  the  other 
hand,  if  their  conductor  saw  it  coming,  "he  could 
give  a  signal  to  the  engineer  of  the  other  train  to 
hold  up,  while  theirs  should  back  down."  "  It  was 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  177 

all  nonsense  stopping;"  "  gross  mismanagement," 
&c.  Some  who  had  never  been  on  a  railroad  be 
fore,  talked  with  an  air  of  profound  sagacity  or  flip 
pant  dissatisfaction  against  "railroad  regulations," 
and  the  "  stupidity"  of  conductors  and  engineers. 
Such  was  the  "  outside  pressure  "  to  force  Parker 
to  go  ahead  with  his  train.  Even  the  clergymen, 
or  some  of  them,  thought  "it  would  be  as  well  to 
trust  to  Providence  and  go  on."  Collisions  were 
not  so  common  in  those  days  as  since;  and  if  all 
conductors  were  like  James  Parker,  such  accidents 
would  rarely  occur  now.  Blandly  but  firmly,  he 
declined  to  proceed  until  the  other  train  had  arriv 
ed.  Many  waxed  wroth  and  raved.  * '  Gentlemen, " 
said  he,  at  length,  "  you  may  proceed  if  you  will, 
but  these  cars  shall  not  go  on  until  I  hear  from 
the  train  due."  And  thereupon  he  switched  his 
train  off  upon  a  turn-out,  in  order  to  wait  in  safety 
for  the  intelligence.  In  a  few  moments  the  train  of 
seventeen  heavy-laden  freight  cars  from  Charlton, 
before  mentioned,  with  no  one  to  check  or  guide 
it,  made  its  appearance,  thundering  along  the  down 
grade  with  terrible  velocity,  and  on  the  same  track 
over  which  Parker  had  been  urged  so  hard  to  hurry 
forward !  Had  he  yielded  to  their  appeals,  and  pro 
ceeded  with  his  train,  or  even  remained  upon  the 
track,  the  passenger  cars  would  have  been  dashed 
to  pieces,  and  hundreds  of  lives  lost !  By  his  firm 
ness  and  foresight,  they  were  safe.  In  view  of  their 
remarkable  deliverance,  the  grateful  passengers,  up- 
12 


178  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

on  arriving  at  Charlton,  held  a  meeting,  in  which 
God  was  fervently  thanked  for  their  almost  miracu 
lous  escape;  and  it  was  voted  unanimously,  viva 
voce,  to  present  a  silver  cup  to  conductor  Parker,  as 
a  tribute  to  his  firmness  and  discretion. 

A  conductor  once  asked  a  director  of  the  R.  R. 
upon  which  he  was  employed,  how  long  he  must 
wait  for  a  train  that  was  to  meet  his  at  a  certain 
station.  The  reply  was,  "Wait  till  the  wheels  rust 
off,  and  then  get  a  new  set!"  James  Parker  was  the 
man  that  would  have  done  that  thing  without  ask 
ing  for  instructions.  If  all  other  conductors  would 
be  equally  firm  and  prudent  in  similar  emergencies, 
which  occur  but  too  frequently,  we  should  not  hear 
so  often  as  we  do  of  terrible  collisions. 

The  silver  cup  was  delivered  to  him  Nov.  8, 
1847,  by  Edward  Riddle,  of  Boston.  It  bears  the 
following  inscription: 

' '  Presented  to  James  Parker  by  the  passengers  of 
the  Springfield  and  Worcester  train  of  cars,  29th  Oct., 
1 8 4*1,  for  his  resolute  and  decisive  conduct  exhibited 
on  that  occasion" 

The  Hartford  and  New  Haven  R.  R.,  connecting 
with  the  Western  R.  R.  at  Springfield,  never  was 
better  managed  than  by  its  present  President,  John 
L.  Buckley,  and  the  very  excellent  Superintendent. 
James  H.  Hoyt.  The  latter  is  ably  assisted  by  E. 
S.  Quintard.  Among  the  best  and  oldest  conduct 
ors,  William  Bauch,  Geo.  Cornwall,  and  I.  C.  Stock 
deserve  special  mention. 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  179 

Before  taking  a  final  leave  of  the  subject  of  the 
transportation  business  in  New  England,  during  the 
latter  days  of  the  stage-coach  lines,  and  while  the 
earlier  Railroads  were  only  in  embryo,  we  will 
quote  two  or  three  facts,  for  the  accuracy  of  which 
we  have  the  authority  of  the  Boston  Daily  Advertiser: 

"In  1827,  when  careful  inquiries  for  ascertaining 
the  amount  of  travel  and  transportation  were  made 
on  the  Providence  and  Western  routes,  preparatory 
to  a  determination  of  the  question  of  the  practica 
bility  of  maintaining  railroads,  it  was  reported  that 
the  number  of  passengers  conveyed  in  that  year 
between  Boston  and  Providence,  by  the  Commer 
cial  and  Citizens'  daily  line  of  stage  coaches,  was 
24,100;  and  that  in  the  same  year  1706  tons  of 
merchandise  were  transported  between  the  two  cit 
ies  in  baggage  wagons,  and  3400  tons  in  sea  vessels 
passing  round  Cape  Cod,  a  distance  of  210  miles — 
the  distance  by  the  turnpike  road  being  but  42 
miles.  Subsequently  to  the  date  of  the  opening  of 
the  Providence  R.  R.,  the  travel  and  transportation 
on  the  line  were  a  good  deal  increased  beyond  the 
above  amounts.  Much  of  the  journeying  through 
out  the  Commonwealth  was  performed  at  that  pe 
riod  in  private  carriages,  instead  of  stage  coaches, 
and  a  great  part  of  the  transportation  of  merchan 
dise  was  done  by  teams  specially  employed  for 
each  job.  The  only  inland  navigation  in  the  State 
was  that  of  the  Middlesex  Canal,  on  which  was  a 
packet  boat,  which  left  Charlestown  for  Chelmsford 
every  Tuesday,  Thursday  and  Saturday,  and  re 
turned  on  Mondays,  Wednesdays  and  Fridays;  and 
at  certain  seasons  considerable  boating  of  heavy 
merchandise  on  the  Connecticut  River." 


180  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

WELLS,  FARGO  &  Co. — The  very  extensive  Cali 
fornia  Express  establishment,  now  so  well  known 
throughout  the  civilized  world  as  Wells,  Fargo  & 
Co.,  was  commenced  in  New  York  in  the  spring  of 
1852,  by  Henry  Wells,  W.  GL  Fargo,  Johnston  Liv 
ingston,  A.  Reynolds,  and  E.  B.  Morgan.  It  was  a 
joint-stock  Company;  capital  $300, 000,  subsequent 
ly  increased  from  time  to  time  to  $600,000.  Its 
original  managers  were  E.  B.  Morgan,  of  Aurora, 
N.  Y.,  President;  James  McKay,  Secretary;  John 
ston  Livingston,  Treasurer.  The  other  directors 
were  A.  Reynolds,  Wm.  Gr.  Fargo,  Henry  Wells, 
and  E.  P.  Williams.  Several  of  these  gentlemen 
were  prominent  managers  of  the  American  Express 
Company,  and  the  numerous  offices  of  the  latter 
Express  were  made  use  of  to  facilitate  the  business 
of  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co. — a  very  great  advantage,  and 
calculated  to  place  the  new  California  Express  upon 
the  footing  of  a  long-established  concern.  W.,  F. 
&  Co.  began  by  reducing  the  price  of  express 
freight  from  this  port  to  San  Francisco,  from  sixty 
cents  to  forty  cents  per  pound,  and  their  competi 
tors  (who  had  been  paid,  in  1849  and  '50,  as  high 
as  seventy-five  cents  per  pound,)  were  compelled 
to  do  the  same. 

The  managers  of  the  new  company  being  ener 
getic  men,  well  known  in  New  York  for  their  re 
sponsibility,  and  familiar  with  "  all  the  ropes,"  soon 
succeeded  in  obtaining  a  large  patronage  in  the  city. 
Add  to  this  what  was  sent  in  from  the  American 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  181 

Express  offices  in  the  West,  and  the  reader  will 
readily  conceive  that  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.  made  a 
very  prosperous  beginning.  About  that  time 
Adams  &  Co.  removed  to  their  present  quarters,  and 
Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.  located  themselves  in  the  old 
express  premises,  No.  16  Wall  Street.  J.  McKay 
was  the  agent  there;  S.  P.  Carter  and^R.  W.  Wash- 
burn  were  the  San  Francisco  agents.  The  latter 
gentleman,  formerly  a  bank  cashier  in  Syracuse,  N. 
Y.,  now  has  charge  of  the  Exchange  department  of 
the  Company,  in  San  Francisco.  Wells,  Fargo  & 
Co.  remained  in  Wall  Street  several  years,  and  then 
removed  to  No.  82  Broadway,  their  present  office. 
•  The  original  Board  of  Direction  were  succeeded 
by  the  following,  viz:  D.  N.  Barney,  President;  T. 
M.  Janes,  Treasurer;  D.  N.  Barney,  W.  Gr.  Fargo, 
Henry  Wells,  E.  P.  Williams,  J.  Livingston,  Benj. 
P.  Cheney,  N.  H.  Stockwell,  T.  M.  Janes,  and  Jas. 
McKay,  Directors.  Louis  McLane,  Jr.,  was  ap 
pointed  to  the  responsible  post  of  Agent  in  San 
Francisco.  LTp  to  that  time,  we  believe.  Wells, 
Fargo  &  Co.  had  not  owned  any  lines  in  the  inte 
rior  of  California;  but  for  the  sake  of  greater  secu 
rity  in  the  receipt  and  delivery  of  valuable  parcels 
in  places  beyond  San  Francisco,  they  adopted  the 
policy  of  buying  out  the  local  expresses  in  Califor 
nia,  or  establishing  new  lines,  which  they  gave  in 
charge  of  their  own  agents. 

Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.'s  Express  lines  within  the 
limits  of  California  have  become  very  numerous, 


182  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

and  radiate  throughout  the  state.  Under  the  su 
pervision  of  Louis  McLane,  Jr.,  the  experienced 
and  judicious  General  Agent,  and  the  immediate 
management  of  Samuel  Knight,  the  very  worthy  and 
efficient  Superintendent  of  the  Express  department, 
these  interior  expresses  are  admirably  operated  and 
rendered  profitable.  They  are  so  many  channels 
for  the  streams  of  gold  dust  which  pour  into  the 
Company's  coffers  at  San  Francisco,  and  thence,  in 
half-million  shipments,  twice  a  month,  are  consign 
ed  to  the  house  in  New  Yor.k.  The  Company  have 
quite  a  number  of  express  offices  in  Oregon  and  on 
the  South  coast.  They  run,  also,  an  express  to 
Frazer  River. 

Among  the  most  useful  and  highly  valued  of  the 
many  employees  who  have  distinguished  themselves 
by  their  fidelity  to  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.,  in  Califor 
nia,  besides  those  already  mentioned,  are  Gr.  W, 
Bell,  Superintendent  of  the  Express  Package  De 
partment,  J.  J.  Kelly,  Henry  Norton,  A.  B.  McNiel, 
W.  H.  Simmons,  J.  M.  Yansyckle,  T.  B.  Anthony, 
and  Edw.  W.  Tracy,  Travelling  Agent.  The  lat 
ter  gentleman,  for  several  years  the  very  popular 
and  efficient  Agent  of  Adams  &  Co.,  at  Shasta,  has 
two  brothers,  also,  in  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.'s  employ, 
viz.,  Theodore  F.  and  Felix  Tracy.  In  an  earlier 
part  of  this  History,  we  have  confounded  the  two, 
supposing  Felix's  first  name  to  be  Theodore. 

Win.  H.  Harnden,  a  clerk  in  their  San  Fran 
cisco  office,  is  a  son  of  The  Original  Expressman. 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  183 

11  Old  Block"  (Delano,)  whose  thrilling  sketches  of 
California  life,  from  1849  to  1854,  rendered  him 
a  prodigious  favorite  throughout  the  "diggins," 
after  having  served  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.  for  a  long 
time  as  messenger,  and  afterwards  as  a  local  agent, 
at  length  retired  from  the  business,  and  settled 
down  at  Grass  Yalley,  where,  in  1858,  he  was  still 
residing. 

During  three  or  four  years  past,  Wells,  Fargo  & 
Co.  have  had  offices  of  their  own  in  the  principal 
Atlantic  cities,  entirely  independent  of  other  Ex 
press  Companies.  Aug.  2,  1858,  they  made  a  semi 
annual  dividend  of  five  per  cent.,  and  the  annual 
exhibit  of  their  Treasurer  showed  the  amount  of 
gold  transported  by  this  Company  over  the  various 
lines  within  the  State  of  California,  during  the  year 
ending  Dec.  31,  1857,  to  have  exceeded  fifty-nine 
millions  eight  hundred  and  eighty-four  thousand 
dollars.  Their  ocean  transportation  of  the  precious 
metal  must  have  been  about  nine  millions  of  dollars. 

The  New  York  office  of  this  immense  business  is 
remarkable  for  the  thoroughness  of  its  details  and 
the  superiority  of  its  management.  The  same,  we 
are  told,  may  be  said  with  truth  of  the  San  Fran 
cisco  office. 

In  a  Supplement  to  this  work,  we  shall  publish 
a  Gazetteer  of  express  towns,  in  which  will  be  in 
cluded  a  list  of  the  offices  of  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co., 
and  the  other  places  in  California  to  which  they 
forward. 


184  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

THE  UNITED  STATES  EXPRESS  COMPANY. — The 
present  Company  bearing  this  name  (another,  it  will 
be  remembered,  had  been  previously  merged  in  the 
American  Express  Company,)  was  organized  in 
1854,  with  the  view  of  doing  a  Western  business 
over  the  N.  Y.  &  Erie  Railroad.  Its  capital  stock 
is  $500,000.  D.  N.  Barney  is  its  President;  H. 
Kip  its  Superintendent;  and  Theo.  B.  Marsh  its 
Treasurer.  This  well-conducted  Express  has  about 
200  agencies,  and  many  employees  worthy  of  par 
ticular  mention  for  their  fidelity  and  untiring  ser 
vice.  Its  field  of  operations  includes  the  most  re 
mote  settlements  in  the  Western  country.  It  is 
very  prompt  in  delivery,  and  its  rates  are  low.  T. 
B.  Marsh,  who  has  acted,  at  No.  82  Broadway,  as 
its  New  York  agent  for  several  years  past,  to  the 
entire  satisfaction  of  the  Directors  and  the  public, 
was  for  some  time  previously  one  of  the  most  valu 
able  men  in  the  American  Express  business.  In 
his  excellent,  well-managed  office  he  is  assisted  by 
W.  H.  Murphy,  and  several  other  efficient  men. 
Myron  E.  Cole,  at  Elkhart,  is  one  of  the  many 
agents  of  this  Company.  H.  Kip,  the  Superintend 
ent,  resides  at  Buffalo,  where  he  has  long  enjoyed 
an  enviable  reputation  as  an  express  manager.  He 
has  been  in  the  business  since  1846,  being  about 
that  time  a  pioneer  expressman  in  the  Western 
Express  of  Livingston  &  Fargo. 

A  material  addition  has  been  made  to  the  U.  S. 
Express  business  lately. 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  185 

The  N.  Y.  &  Erie  R.  R.  Co.,  in  1854  or  '55,  de 
cided  to  do  the  Express  business  on  their  roirte 
themselves,  and  did  so,  accordingly;  making  H.  D. 
Rice,  (since  deceased,)  its  Superintendent.  The  ex 
periment,  however,  as  might  have  been  expected 
by  any  one  entirely  familiar  with  the  details  of  ex 
press  business,  was  not  destined  to  be  successful, 
although  managed  during  the  last  year  or  two  by 
a  very  able  man,  to  the  best  of  his  ability.  The 
liability  of  their  Express  to  make  good  any  loss  of 
money  parcels  intrusted  to  it  for  conveyance,  be 
came  a  cause  of  serious  concern  to  many  of  the  N. 
Y.  &  Erie  R.  R.  stockholders,  and  finally,  the  Di 
rectors  determined  to  give  it  up  and  stick  to  their 
legitimate  business.  Accordingly,  on  the  first  of 
August,  1858,  their  Express  was  transferred  to  the 
United  States  Express  Company,  by  whom  it  is 
now  operated  in  connection  with  their  Western 
lines.  An  experienced  expressman,  C.  A.  De  Witt, 
is  Superintendent  of  the  Erie  R,  R.  Division. 

HOWARD  &  Co.'s  EXPRESS,  PHILADELPHIA. — We 
have  before  referred  to  N.  Gr.  Howard,  as  the  Agent 
of  Harnden  &  Co..  at  Albany,  IS".  Y.,  in  the  summer 
of  1842.  In  the  following  year,  he  became  associ 
ated  with  E.  C.  Bailey,  a  very  worthy  and  enter 
prising  young  man  from  Boston,  under  the  style  of 
Bailey  &  Howard.  B.  had  a  warm  personal  friend 
in  Xat.  Greene,  who  was  then  in  the  firm  of  Harn 
den  &  Co.  Owing  to  his  variance  with  Henry  Wells, 
12* 


186  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

in  1843,  to  which  allusion  has  already  been  made 
in'our  history  of  him,  Harndenwas  desirous  of  "con 
necting/7  at  Albany,  with  some  other  Express  than 
Pomeroy  &  Co.'s;  and  it  was  at  his  instigation  that 
Bailey  &  Howard  attempted  to  establish  an  Express 
line  to  Buffalo  in  competition  with  that  successful 
concern.  B.  &  H.  soon  dissolved  their  co-partner 
ship,  and  Bailey  returned  to  the  Boston  Post  Office, 
where,  a  few  years  later,  he  became  Postmaster ; 
and  so  continued,  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the 
merchants  and  citizens,  until  he  resigned  in  1857, 
to  make  room  for  Nahum  Capen.  He  is  now  editor 
and  proprietor  of  a  penny  newspaper  of  large  cir 
culation  and  influence — The  Boston  Daily  Herald. 

Shortly  after  abandoning  his  Albany  and  Buffalo 
enterprise,  Howard  joined  E.  H.  Virgil  in  running 
an  express  between  Albany  and  Montreal;  but  this, 
too,  was  up-hill  work,  and  having,  in  the  spring  of 
1844,  a  good  offer  from  Harnden,  he  went  to  Phil 
adelphia  and  took  charge  of  Harnden  &  Co.'s  Ex 
press  in  that  city. 

The  Pottsville  and  Reading  Express,  ma  Phila 
delphia  and  Reading  R.  R.,  was  commenced  by 
Livingston,  Howard  &  Co.  shortly  after  this.  A  few 
years  alter,  E.  W.  Earl,  of  Reading,  Pa.,  purchased 
an  interest,  and  the  firm  became  Howard,  Earl  &  Co. 
The  business  was  under  the  immediate  superintend- 
ance  of  one  of  the  partners  at  each  principal  place; 
Howard,  at  Philadelphia;  Earl,  at  Reading;  and  R. 
F.  Weaver,  at  Pottsville. 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  187 

In  January,  1854,  Earl  disposed  of  his  interest 
to  the  remaining  partners,  and  the  firm  became 
Howard  &  Co.  In  November,  1854,  the  Catawissa, 
Williamsport  and  Erie,  and  the  Williamsport  and 
Elmira  Railroads  formed  a  connection  with  the  Phila 
delphia  and  Reading  R.  R.  at  Port  Clinton,  and  How 
ard  &  Co.'s  Express  ran  through  to  Elmira,  N.  Y., 
daily;  there,  forming  a  connection  with  the  Ameri 
can  Express  Co.,  and  opening  a  new  and  more  direct 
route  from  Philadelphia  to  the  Northwestern  States. 

Howard  &  Co.'s  Easton  Express  was  commenced 
on  the  completion  of  the  Belvidere  and  Delaware 
Railroad  to  Lambertville,  N.  J.,  and  thence  by 
wagons  to  Easton,  a  distance  of  36  miles.  The 
Railroad  being  gradually  opened,  the  distance  for 
wagoning  was  lessened,  until,  in  the  latter  part  01 
the  year  1853,  the  Belvidere  and  Delaware  Rail 
road  was  completed  to  Phillipsburg,  (opposite  Eas 
ton).  The  Express  was  then  run  to  Easton  entirely 
by  Railroad.  The  firm  was  represented  by  IS".  G-. 
Howard  and  A.  L.  Randall,  at  Philadelphia,  and 
John  Smylie,  Jr.,  at  Easton.  At  this  time  the  Le- 
high  Yalley  Railroad  was  being  constructed,  and 
Howard  &  Co.  placed  their  teams  on  the  route  from 
Easton  to  Mauch  Chunk.  In  1855,  the  Lehigh  Yal 
ley  Railroad  being  completed,  the  Express  was  run 
through  from  Philadelphia  to  Mauch  Chunk  by  Rail 
road. 

The  following  Railroads  are  now  used  by  How 
ard  &  Co.'s  Express: 


188  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

Lebanon  Valley;  Philadelphia  and  Reading;  Cat- 
awissa,  Williamsport  and  Erie;  Williamsport  and 
Elmira;  Schuylkill  Haven  and  Mine  Hill;  North 
Pennsylvania;  Belvidere;  Delaware;  Lehigh  Val 
ley;  Beaver  Meadow;  Flemington;  Catasauqua  and 
Fogies  ville. 

The  intelligent  reader  will  have  already  inferred 
that  JSf.  G.  Howard  must  have  been  not  only  very 
busy,  but  remarkably  capable,  to  have  accomplished 
so  much.  We  regret  to  add,  that  his  health,  seri 
ously  impaired  by  his  long  and  arduous  labors,  has 
been  poor  for  nearly  a  year  past.  The  present  firm 
of  Howard  &  Co.  is,  in  every  sense  of  the  word, 
a  strong  one.  A.  L.  Randall,  H.'s  partner  in  Phila 
delphia,  has  enjoyed  popularity  and  the  most  un 
limited  confidence  in  that  circumspect  community, 
for  many  years.  They  are  in  the  same  office  with 
the  Harnden  Express,  No.  92  Chesnut  Street. 

THE  AMERICAN-EUROPEAN  JOINT-STOCK  EXPRESS 
AND  EXCHANGE  COMPANY  was  created  in  this  city 
by  the  proprietors  of  Livingston,  Wells  &  Co. 's  Eu 
ropean  Express,  and  Edwards,  Sanford  &  Co.'s  For 
eign  Express,  in  July,  1855,  and  the  two  concerns 
last  named  were  merged  in  it.  James  McKay  was 
elected  President.  In  1857,  he  was  succeeded  by 
E.  S.  Sanford.  H.  S.  Lansing,  formerly  a  banker, 
or  bank  cashier,  was  the  manager  from  the  outset. 
It  was  a  very  well  conducted  and  useful,  but  not 
remunerative  institution.  Its  New  York  office  was 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  189 

at  72  Broadway,  and  it  had  excellent  agencies  in 
Liverpool,  London,  Havre,  Paris,  Boston,  New  York, 
Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore.  No  company  ever 
had  more  faithful  employees,  and  its  Directors  were 
men  of  experience;  but  there  were  some  very  ma 
terial  obstacles  to  its  prosperity  as  an  Express,  and 
its  prospects  were  much  injured  by  the  withdrawal 
of  the  Collins  line  of  Steamships.  In  March,  1858, 
the  stockholders  concluded  to  wind  up  its  affairs, 
and  transfer  its  business  to  H.  S.  Lansing.  The 
latter  gentleman  then  associated  with  himself  his 
brother,  B.  B.  Lansing,  and  the  draft-clerk  of  the 
Company,  A.  P.  Baldwin,  under  the  style  of  H.  S. 
Lansing  &  Co.,  and  removed  the  exchange  and  bank 
ing  business  to  the  elegant  and  commodious  cham 
bers  on  the  second  floor  of  the  new  white  marble 
building,  No.  98  Broadway.  The  Express  business 
was  continued  by  that  firm,  at  72  Broadway.  H. 
S.  Lansing  left  for  Europe  soon  after  this  change 
was  made,  with  a  view  to  manage  the  business  at 
Paris,  and  to  perfect  his  banking  and  exchange 
facilities  upon  the  Continent.  The  New  York  house 
now  make  and  sell  drafts  on  London,  Liverpool, 
Havre  and  Paris;  and  will  draw,  also,  upon  Bre 
men,  Hamburg,  and  Leipsic. 

W.  WILLIAMS  &  Co.'s  EUROPEAN  EXPRESS,  estab 
lished  in  1854  or  '55,  is  located  at  168  Broadway. 
It  is  safe  and  reliable,  though  limited  in  its  opera 
tions.  Williams  was  formerly  cashier  and  account- 


190  EXPRESS      HISTORY, 

ant  of  Edwards,  Sanford  &  Co.'s  European  Express. 
He  is  a  native  of  England,  where  he  was  employed 
as  a  "  commercial  traveller,77  but  has  resided  many 
years  in  this  country,  and  has  had  a  long  experi 
ence  in  his  branch  of  the  Express  business.  His 
agent  in  Boston,  W.  H.  Pillow,  a  very  useful  and 
worthy  man,  is  engaged,  also,  in  the  Custom-House 
Brokerage  business  for  J.  K.  Stimson  &  Co. 

EARLE  &  Co.'s  EXPRESS,  between  Providence  and 
Boston,  is  of  nearly  twenty  years'  standing.  B.  D. 
&  L.  B.  Earle,  pioneers  of  the  Express  business  in 
Rhode  Island,  were  formerly  bank  messengers,  and 
went  over  the  route  daily  in  that  capacity  from 
the  time  that  B.  &  P.  R.  R.  was  opened,  (1835,) 
until  they  started  what  they  called  Earle's  Express. 
It  has  always  been  a  prompt,  responsible  and  reli 
able  concern.  The  present  firm,  Earle  &  Co.,  in 
clude  in  their  range  of  operations,  also,  a  line  be 
tween  Providence,  Warren,  and  Bristol,  R.  I.;  and 
another  between  Providence,  Stonington  and  New 
London,  Conn.  Horatio  Pollard,  an  experienced 
Expressman,  is  located  in  their  Boston  office. 

HATCH,  GRAY  &  Co.'s  EXPRESS,  from  Boston  to 
New  Bedford  and  Martha's  Vineyard,  was  com 
menced  in  1840,  by  that  energetic  and  wide-awake 
local  celebrity,  Col.  A.  D.  Hatch,  of  New  Bedford. 
The  terminus  of  his  route  at  that  time  was  Nan- 
tucket.  The  New  Bedford  and  Taunton  Branch 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  191 

Railroad  had  just  been  put  into  operation.  The 
stage-drivers  whom  it  deprived  of  business,  ob 
tained  situations  upon  the  Railroad  as  conductors 
and  brakemen.  The  lines  of  stages  thus  broken 
up  were  owned  by  Elias  Sampson  &  Co.  and 
Jesse  Smith.  Sampson  soon  added  his  strength  to 
Hatch's,  and  (in  1843,  we  think  it  was,)  the  firm 
became  Hatch  &  Co. 

Col.  Hatch  acted  as  his  own  messenger  for  several 
years,  at  any  rate,  and  still  does  so,  we  think. 
Rapid  in  his  movements,  zealous  in  everything  he 
undertook,  and  thoroughly  experienced  as  a  man 
of  business,  he  accomplished  more  work  than  half 
a  dozen  ordinary  employees  could  have  done,  and, 
in  the  face  of  much  discouragement,  .established  his 
Express  upon  a  durable  foundation. 

FISKE  &  Co.'s  EXPRESS  had  its  head- quarters  in 
the  Railroad  Exchange  Building,  which  forms  upon 
Court  Square,  the  rear  of  the  admirable  Museum 
edifice,  owned  by  David  and  Moses  Kimball.  The 
premises  were  originally  leased  by  Benjamin  F. 
Cheney,  of  Cheney  &  Co.'s  Express,  for  the  accom 
modation  of  his  own,  and  numerous  local  Express 
es,  and  under  his  judicious  management  it  became 
a  sort  of  Express  Arcade. 

The  founder  of  Fiske  &  Co.'s  business  was  L. 
Bigelow,  who  had  a  contract  for  express  facilities 
upon  the  Boston  and  Fitchburg,  Mass.,  Railroad, 
and  Worcester  and  Nashua  Railroad,  as  early  as 


192  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

July,  1848,  and  this  was  continued  until  March  1st, 
1851,  when  Bigelow  having  sold  out  to  them,  Fiske 
&  Rice  obtained  the  same  privileges.  This  was  con 
tinued  until  November  30th,  1854,  when  from  the 
date  of  a  new  contract  with  the  Worcester  and 
Nashua  Railroad,  we  find  that  the  firm  had  been 
changed  to  Fiske  &  Co.  That  is  still  the  style  of 
it.  Bigelow  7s  main  route  was  from  Boston  to  Bur 
lington,  Vt.,  and  Montreal.  When  he  commenced, 
the  Worcester  and  Nashua  Railroad  was  open  only 
from  Groton  Junction  to  Clinton,  Mass.:  December 
18th,  1848,  it  was  opened  for  travel  the  entire  dis 
tance  from  Worcester  to  Nashua;  connecting  at 
different  points,  upon  the  route,  with  the  Boston 
and  Fitchburg  Railroad,  and  the  Stony-Brook  Rail 
road.  No  better  built  railway  was  to  be  found  in 
America,  and  the  world  could  not  show  an  avenue 
having  a  more  picturesque  and  charming  series  of 
landscapes  to  pass  through.  Old  travellers  upon 
this  route,  before  railways  had  been  projected,  will 
remember  that  its  beautiful  scenery  well  repaid  the 
labor  of  a  long  coach-ride.  The  numerous  ever 
lasting  hills  which  Genery  Twichell  and  John  C. 
Stiles  tried,  and  not  in  vain,  to  make  easy  with 
their  fine  teams  and  stages,  and  entertaining  talk, 
are  now  circumvented  of  all  their  difficulties  by 
the  Worcester  and  Nashua  Railroad.  The  gratified 
traveller,  skimming  along  at  the  rate  of  25  or  30 
miles  an  hour,  sees  only  the  agreeable  side  of  them, 
with  the  verdant  meadows  at  their  feet,  intersected 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  193 

by  babbling  brooks  and  still  rivers.  And  now,  in 
place  of  those  admirable  stage-men,  who  gave  such 
a  dignity  and  popularity  to  their  calling  in  that 
olden  time,  we  have  conductors,  Lyman  Brooks 
and  Aaron  King,  whose  care  and  attention  to  the 
accommodation  of  travellers  are  no  less  than  theirs. 
For  many  years  those  gentlemen  have  been  serv 
ing  the  public  upon  this  admirably-managed  road, 
"  winning  golden  opinions  from  all  sorts  of  people," 
by  their  uniformly  agreeable  and  correct  deport 
ment.  Lyman  Brooks  has  been  upon  this  Railroad 
from  the  commencement.  G-.  W.  Bentley,  the  su 
perintendent  of  the  Worcester  and  Nashua  Rail 
road,  became  connected  with  its  direction  in  1849, 
and  has  labored  zealously  ever  since,  to  promote 
its  popularity  and  increase  its  revenue.  The  clean 
liness  of  the  cars,  the  neatness  and  orderly  system 
of  the  offices,  and  the  thorough  repair  in  which  the 
track  and  rolling-stock  are  kept,  speak  his  praises 
louder  than  words  can  do.  J.  C.  Stiles,  to  whom 
we  have  alluded,  is  now  superintendent  of  one  of 
the  Horse  Railroads,  in  Boston. 

The  original  Worcester  Expressman  was  S.  S. 
Leonard.  He  started  it  as  long  ago  as  1840;  pass 
ing,  as'  his  own  messenger,  over  the  Boston  and 
Worcester  Railroad  twice  a  day.  Fuller,  a  con 
ductor  upon  the  Worcester  and  Norwich  Rail 
road,  (we  learn  from  Albert  Roath,  one  of  the  best 
conductors  ever  upon  that  route,)  did  a  kind  of 
Express  service  about  the  same  time,  between  the 

13 


194  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

two    latter    cities.     Fuller's    Express  is  now  well 
known. 

After  the  Railroads  in  Massachusetts  were  finish 
ed,  or  partially  completed,  Gray  used  to  serve  as  a 
common  carrier  of  money  packages  between  Bos 
ton  and  Lowell,  and  Page,  Potter  and  Anable,  be 
tween  Boston  and  Salem. 

Benjamin  P.  Cheney,  the  founder  of  the  Express 
lines  bearing  his  name,  was  for  many  years  a  stage- 
driver  and  proprietor.  For  a  long  time  his  hat 
was  his  only  express  crate,  arid  he  has  said  faceti 
ously  that  it  was  the  cause  of  his  present  baldness. 
Cheney  continued  in  the  staging  business  until 
some  years  after  the  Express  had  been  established 
by  Harnden  and  others,  when  he  was  induced  to 
commence  a  similar  enterprise.  Cheney  &  Co.'s 
Express  lines  communicate  with  the  interior  of 
Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire  and  Vermont,  and 
for  many  years  have  deservedly  enjoyed  the  confi 
dence  of  the  people  of  that  populous  and  busy  sec 
tion  of  country. 

THE  CENTRAL  EXPRESS  COMPANY  was  organized 
Feb.  1, 1858,  with  a  capital  of  $200,000,  and  the  fol 
lowing  named  officers:  Johnston  Livingston,  Pres 
ident;  A.  D.  Hope,  Yice-President  and  General 
Superintendent;  Erastus  Littlefield,  Treasurer;  and 
William  P.  Janes,  Secretary.  Its  routes  are  in 
New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania. 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  195 

THE  HOPE  EXPRESS  COMPANY,  74  Broadway, 
(whose  line  runs  from  this  city  via  the  Central  R. 
R.  of  New  Jersey,  and  Delaware,  Lackawanna  and 
Western  R.  R.;  also,  via  Lackawanna  and  Bloom- 
irigsburgh  R.  R.;  Lehigh  R.  R.,  and  North  Penn 
sylvania  R.  R.,  to  Philadelphia,)  was  founded  three 
or  four  years  ago  upon  an  express  business  built  up 
by  A.  D.  Hope,  and  long  known  as  Hope's  Express. 
He  is  Superintendent  of  the  present  very  much  ex 
tended  line,  and  is  a  hard-working,  faithful,  and 
excellent  manager. 

THE  MANHATTAN  EXPRESS  COMPANY,  a  very  ex 
tensive  and  important  City  Express  enterprise, 
founded  upon  the  Westcott  Express  Company,  was 
organized  in  this  city,  May  1,  1858.  Capital, 
$100,000.  The  following  officers  were  elected  at 
that  time,  viz:  C.  A.  Darling,  President;  E.  L.  Stone, 
Secretary;  A.  S.  Dodd,  Treasurer;  Robert  F.  West 
cott,  Yice-President  and  Superintendent. 

R.  F.  Westcott,  the  originator  of  the  company 
bearing  his  name,  was  an  expressman  as  long  ago 
as  1845.  In  1851  or  '52,  he  started  a  City  Ex 
press,  driving  its  only  wagon  himself.  Beginning 
with  the  up-town  city  jobs  of  the  Adams  Express, 
he  persevered  until  he  induced  other  Express  Com 
panies  to  give  him  their  work  of  that  kind.  Intelli 
gent,  quick,  faithful,  ambitious  to  please,  and  de 
termined  to  succeed,  Westcott  soon  increased  his 
business  so  as  to  require  another  wagon.  Still 


196  E-XPRESS      HISTORY. 

another  was  added,  in  the  following  year.  This 
augmentation  of  his  facilities  increased  until  April, 
1855,  when  he  took  one  or  more  partners,  with 
capital,  and  considerably  enlarging  his  operations, 
entitled  his  firm  the  "  Westcott  Express  Company." 
In  January,  1857,  this  became  a  joint-stock  con 
cern,  and  in  addition  to  its  city  and  baggage  express 
business  in  New  York,  it  operated  extensively  in 
Brooklyn,  Williamsburgh,  and  Jersey  City  ;  em 
ploying  about  40  men  and  20  wagons.  The  supe 
riority  of  its  teams,  and  the  promptness  and  thor 
ough  system  observed  by  this  company,  were  too 
much  even  for  the  resolute  opposition  which  was 
made  to  it  by  numerous  individual  enterprises  of 
the  kind,  and  it  attained  to  an  important  position. 
But  for  the  sake  of  a  still  better  organization,  and 
larger  means,  its  proprietors  made  it  the  basis  of  a 
still  more  powerful  concern,  now  known  as  the  Man 
hattan  Express  Company.  This  Company  will  do 
for  the  principal  Express  companies  all  of  their 
city  delivery  work  up -town;  also,  an  extensive  bag 
gage  and  parcel  business  for  the  community  in  gen 
eral.  Every  department  of  it  is  in  the  hands  of 
experienced  and  reliable  expressmen,  and  it  is  a 
very  responsible  establishment.  Recently,  the  num 
ber  of  its  wagons  has  been  increased  to  thirty,  and 
instead  of  one  man  doing  all  the  work,  which  was 
the  case  at  the  outset,  this  Express  gives  steady 
employment  to  about  sixty  persons.  Its  agencies 
are  as  follows,  viz:  A.  F.  Westcott,  168  Broadway; 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  197 

J.  S.  Games,  4  Astor  Place;  W.  H.  Horton,  945 
Broadway;  W.  H.  Ross,  31st  St.  Station  Hudson 
River  R.  R.;  Geo.  Y.  Miles,  140  Chambers  St.,  H.  R. 
R.  R.;  Geo.  Dixon,  Erie  Railroad  Depot.  In  Brook 
lyn— G.  Blakely,  City  Hall  Square;  H.  A.  Clagett, 
45  Fulton  St.  In  Williamsburgh— W.  B.  Westcott, 
91  South  Seventh  St.  In  Jersey  City— Wm.  M. 
Dodd,  3  Montgomery  St.  In  Hoboken— G.  C. 
Boyd,  Washington  St.  Its  Baggage  Agents  on  the 
Hudson  River  Railroad  are  J.  L.  Emerson,  T.  J. 
Nichols,  and  John  Nichols;  on  the  N.  Y.  and  Erie 
Railroad,  J.  H.  Dawson,  James  E.  Miller,  and  H. 
B.  Smith.  It  performs,  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of 
the  public,  a  very  large  business  in  the  transporta 
tion  of  baggage  for  passengers  upon  the  two  Rail 
roads  above  named,  carrying  not  far  from  100,000 
trunks  during  the  year.  In  this  city,  it  delivers  at 
any  place  desired  below  Fiftieth  Street.  We  re 
gard  it  as  altogether  the  most  extensive  enterprise 
of  the  kind  ever  attempted  in  America;  and  for 
system  and  efficiency,  it  is  not  excelled  even  by  the 
best  parcel  delivery  company  in  London. 

BREES  &  Co.'s  EXPRESS  line  extends  from  New 
York  to  Haekettstown,  N.  J.,  over  the  Morris  and 
Essex  Railroad,  and  by  the  Sussex  Railroad  to  New 
ton,  N.  J.  The  founder  of  it,  Bailey  Brees,  in  July, 
1855,  had  been  engaged  for  about  ten  years  in  run 
ning  a  line  of  stages  to  Morristown,  N.  J.  After 
going  into  the  new  business,  his  son  became  his 


198  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

partner,  and,  from  about  the  1st  of  January,  Ste 
phen  B.  Brees  has  had  the  entire  charge  of  the 
Express.  It  is  due  to  him  to  say,  that  he  well  de 
serves  the  constantly  increasing  favor  which  the 
public  have  extended  to  his  business.  Originally, 
they  managed  to  do  their  business  without  any 
wagon;  now,  they  have  five  wagons  and  seven  horses. 
Brees  &  Co.,  (Bailey  Brees  and  Stephen  B.  Brees,) 
the  proprietors  of  this  Express,  have  a  R.  R.  con 
tract.  Their  Agents  are  located  in  Jersey  City, 
Newark,  Orange,  South  Orange,  Millburn,  Summit, 
Chatham,  Madison,  Andover,  Morristown,  Denville, 
Rockaway,  Dover,  Drakesville,  Stanhope,  Water 
loo,  Hackettstown,  Newton,  and  Schooley's  Moun 
tain.  They  dispatch  to  those  places  twice  daily. 
Their  New  York  office,  at  66  Courtlandt  Street,  is  a 
perfect  beehive;  appearing  all  the  more  lively  from 
the  frequency  of  the  arrivals  and  departures  of  the 
various  Expresses  which  make  it  their  head-quar 
ters.  Brees  &  Co.'s  Express  is  regarded  as  very 
prompt  and  responsible. 

BUDD'S  EXPRESS  line  is  from  New  York  to  New 
ark,  and  all  places  intermediate.  The  Package 
Express  is  conveyed  over  the  New  Jersey  Railroad; 
and  freight  by  wagons,  via  the  plank  road;  distance 
eight  miles. 

As  the  business  of  Budd's  Express  indicates  con 
siderable  ability  and  enterprise  upon  his  part;  using 
originally  only  one  horse  and  wagon,  and  now  em- 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  199 

ploying  nearly  ten  times  that  force;  we  think  it 
deserving  of  particular  notice.  The  history  of  it  is 
briefly  as  follows: 

Established  in  1846,  by  a  Mr.  Heberton,  it  had 
passed  through  several  ownerships,  when,  in  1852, 
it  became  the  property  of  its  present  very  worthy 
proprietor,  Ira  Budd.  By  increasing  its  number  of 
trips  per  day,  putting  on  another  horse  and  wagon, 
and  pushing  the  business  with  energy  and  judg 
ment,  Budd  rapidly  increased  the  number  of  its  cus 
tomers.  Persevering  in  this  commendable  course, 
and  constantly  making  some  improvement  in  the 
appearance  of  his  teams,  he  established  a  reputa 
tion  for  good  taste  and  business  ability.  So  appre 
ciative  were  the  public  of  this,  that  his  increasing 
business  rendered  it  necessary  for  him  to  purchase 
more  wagons.  He  has  eight  now;  several  of  these 
very  large  ones,  and  drawn  by  two  horses.  Budd's 
Express  offices  are,  corner  of  Washington  and 
Courtlandt  Sts.,  New  York,  and  134  Market  St., 
Newark.  It  makes  six  trips  each  way  daily. 

Among  the  city  expressmen,  Joseph  Black  is 
one  of  the  best.  We  single  him  out  because  he  is 
entitled  to  notice  from  his  long  experience.  He  has 
been  an  expressman  ever  since  1845. 

THE  BAGGAGE  EXPRESSES. — The  credit  of  estab 
lishing  that  institution,  the  Baggage  Express,  prop 
erly  belongs  to  that  faithful  and  enterprising  ex 
press  veteran,  Warren  Studley. 


200  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

In  1841,  he  drove  the  first  wagon  ever  owned  by 
Adams  &  Co.,  in  New  York.  He  was  in  their  em 
ployment  about  five  years,  and  was  regarded  as  one 
of  their  most  reliable  men.  Ho  left  them,  to  run 
as  an  express  messenger  upon  his  own  account,  over 
the  Stonington  route  to  Boston.  James  Gay  made 
alternate  trips  on  the  same  line,  starting  from  Bos 
ton  about  the  same  hour  that  Studley  left  New 
York.  They  worked  in  unison,  yet  independently, 
each  being  liable  for  his  own  risks  and  expenses, 
and  appropriating  the  profits  of  his  trips  to  his  own 
use. 

Warren  Studley  continued  this  operation  for 
about  fourteen  months,  and  then  disposed  of  his 
business  to  Charles  H.  Valentine,  who  transferred 
it  to  the  Fall  River  route  new  Express,  Gay,  Kins 
ley  &  Co.,  in  which  he  was  a  partner.  S.  entered 
at  the  same  time  into  their  employment,  and  serv 
ed  them  faithfully  as  a  messenger  for  several  years, 
after  which  he  acted  as  messenger  for  the  Harnden 
Express  on  the  Stonington  line,  until  1852,  when 
the  idea  occurred  to  him  of  making  a  specialty  of 
the  business  of  delivering  baggage  for  passengers 
arriving  in  the  city  by  the  cars.  His  example  has 
been  extensively  copied  throughout  the  country. 
He  now  has  three  offices  and  ten  or  twelve  elegant 
wagons  almost  constantly  at  work,  delivering  the 
baggage  arriving  in  the  city  by  the  New  Haven  trains. 
In  addition  to  the  above,  Studley  has  gone  into  the 
business  of  building  and  selling  express  wagons. 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  201 

THE  EASTERN  EXPRESS  COMPANY,  founded  in  May, 
1857,  with  a  capital  of  $100,000,  is  a  Boston  joint- 
stock  concern — a  consolidation  of  the  Express  en 
terprises  of  Carpenter  &  Co.,  Winslow  &  Co.,  and 
Hodgman,  Carr  &  Co.  Carpenter  &  Co.  were  for 
about  ten  years  in  the  Express  business  between 
Boston  and  the  towns  on  the  Kennebec  River. 
Winslow  &  Co.  (J.  R.  Hall,  Boston  manager),  suc 
ceeded  in  1850,  or  not  long  afterwards,  to  a  business 
between  Boston,  Portland  and  Waterville,  Me., 
once  operated  by  Longley  &  Co.  F.  W.  Carr  has 
been  in  the  Maine  Express  line  about  seven  years. 
Some  four  or  five  years  ago  he  became  a  partner 
with  Hodgman  &  Co.,  and  the  style  was  changed  to 
Hodgman,  Carr  &  Co.  Their  Express  business  was 
between  Boston  and  the  towns  on  the  Penobscot 
River. 

John  R.  Hall,  the  Superintendent  of  the  Eastern 
Express  Company,  has  been  an  expressman  ever 
since  the  days  of  Harnden's  Original  Express.  The 
associate  managers  and  proprietors  are  J.  R.  Hall 
and  F.  W.  Carr,  Boston;  J.  N.  Winslow,  Portland; 
C.  S.  Carpenter,  Augusta;  and  F.  H.  Hodgman, 
Bangor.  Upon  their  different  routes  they  have 
about  570  miles  of  steamboating  and  380  miles  of 
Railroad  travel.  They  employ  upwards  of  eighty 
agents  and  messengers,  and  from  fifteen  to  twenty 
drivers. 

Mr.  Tucker,  in  their  Boston  office,  has  been  an 
express  clerk  for  many  years. 

13* 


DEXTER    BRIQHAM,    JR., 

OF  THE  FIRM  OF  HARNDEN  &  CO.,  FROM  1840  TO  1850. 


APPENDIX. 


THE  LIABILITY  OP  EXPRESS  PROPRIETORS  AS  CARRIERS.  SOME  IMPORTANT 
JUDICIAL  DECISIONS  IN  RELATION  TO  IT.  EXPRESS  ROUTINE.  USEFUL 
HINTS  TO  EXPRESS  EMPLOYEES.  A  MASS  OF  INTERESTING  AND  AMUSING 
SKETCHES  AND  ANECDOTES,  ILLUSTRATING  EXPRESS  AND  RAILROAD  PECU 
LIARITIES.  ROBBERIES  OF  THE  EXPRESS. 

HAVING  given  the  history  of  the  origin  of  Rail 
roads  in  America,  and  the  rise  and  progress  of  the 
Express  business,  it  will  be  appropriate  to  devote 
the  closing  portion  of  the  work  to  some  mention  of 
matters  incidental  to  those  institutions.  Express 
affairs  being  the  subject  more  especially  under  con 
sideration,  what  we  shall  have  to  say  now,  will  have 
particular  reference  to  them. 

We  propose  to  speak  first  upon  a  point  of  the 
last  importance  to  Express  proprietors,  viz.,  their 
liability  as  Carriers;  then  of  some  interesting  facts 
in  Express  routine,  and  afterwards  devote  about  40 
pages  to  curious  and  useful  facts  and  entertaining 
sketches  and  anecdotes,  illustrating  the  peculiarities 
of  Express  and  Railroad  life. 

THE  LIABILITY  OF  EXPRESSMEN  AS  CARRIERS. 

For  many  years  expressmen  were  universally 
regarded,  not  as  "  Common  Carriers,"  but  as  For- 


204  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

warders  or  Agents  of  those  sending  by  :hem:  hence 
the  terms  "Express  Agents"  and  "Express  For 
warders."  All  that  they  promised,  and  all  that 
was  expected  of  them,  was  to  use  due  diligence  and 
fidelity  in  the  execution  of  the  business  intrusted  to 
them  by  their  customers.  If  by  storm  or  fire,  or 
any  accident  beyond  the  control  of  themselves  or 
their  employees,  any  parcel  or  package  in  their 
charge  was  damaged,  lost  or  destroyed,  they  were 
not  held  liable  to  make  it  good  or  pay  for  it.  They 
held  that  the  Railroad  or  Steamboat  Company  own 
ing  the  cars  or  boats  in  which  the  goods  were  convey 
ed,  were  common  carriers;  but  expressmen  were 
merely  messengers.  In  one  or  two  instances  only, 
in  the  early  stages  of  the  Express  business,  was  this 
position  contested  in  a  court  of  law.  Of  late  years, 
there  have  been  several  cases  of  the  kind,  (to  be 
quoted  in  the  following  pages,)  but  the  instances 
are  rare. 

Express  proprietors  are  now  beginning  to  regard 
themselves  as  carriers  under  special  contract  with 
their  customers:  that  is  to  say,  whenever  they  take 
a  package  or  parcel  for  transportation,  they  give  a 
receipt  for  it,  in  which  they  state  precisely  what 
they  undertake  .to  do  with  it,  and  the  limit  of  their 
pecuniary  liability  in  the  case. 

The  Adams  Express,  in  receipting  for  a  package, 
uses  the  simplest  form  possible,  giving  the  marks 
of  it,  and  specifying  the  value,  if  it  is  stated.  The 
following  printed  clause  is  included  in  the  receipt : 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  205 

"  To  be  forwarded  to only. 

It  is  further  agreed,  and  is  part  of  the  consideration  of  this  con 
tract,  that  the  ADAMS  EXPRESS  COMPANY  are  not  to 

responsible,  except  as  Forwarders,  for  any  LOSS  or  DAMAGE 
arising  from  the  dangers  of  Railroad,  Steam,  or  River  Naviga 
tion,  Leakage,  Fire,  or  from  any  cause  whatever,  unless  the  same 
be  proved  to  have  occurred  from  the  fraud  or  gross  negligence  of 
ourselves,  our  Agents  or  Servants;  and  we,  in  no  event,  to  be  lia 
ble  beyond  our  route,  as  herein  receipted.  VALUED  UNDER  FIFTY 
DOLLARS,  unless  otherwise  herein  stated.  All  articles  of  GLASS 
will  be  taken  at  shippers'  risk  only,  the  Company  refusing  to  be 
responsible  for  any  injury  by  breakage  or  otherwise." 

The  "American,"  "United  States,"  and  "Nation 
al"  Express  forms,  instead  of  saying  "  Received  of ]" 

use  the  words  " has  delivered  to  us"     The 

American  Express  form  contains  the  annexed 
clause,  which  does  not  vary  materially  from  the 
above,  except  in  the  amount  of  liability  assumed. 
They 

"  undertake  to  forward  to   or  to 

our  agency  nearest  or  most  convenient  to  destination  only,  perils 
of  navigation  and  transportation  excepted;  and  IT  is  HEREBY  EX 
PRESSLY  AGREED,  AND  IS  PART  OF  THE  CONSIDERATION  OF  THIS  CON 
TRACT,  that  the  said  AMERICAN  EXPRESS  COMPANY 
are  not  to  be  held  liable  for  any  loss  or  damage  except  as  For 
warders  only ;  nor  for  any  loss  or  damage  of  any  box,  package  or 
thing  for  over  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  FIFTY  DOLLARS,  unless  the  just 
and  true  value  thereof  is  herein,  stated ;  nor  for  any  loss  or  dam 
age  by  fire ;  nor  upon  any  property  or  thing  unless  properly  packed 
and  secured  for  transportation;  nor  upon  fragile  fabrics;  nor  upon 
any  article  CONSISTING  OF  OR  CONTAINED  IN  GLASS. 


CONTENTS   UNKNOWN. 


And  such  are  the  forms  in  common  use.  If  the 
value  of  the  package  exceeds  the  sum  mentioned 
in  the  regular  printed  form,  the  company  is  willing 
to  assume  the  extra  liability,  but  the  amount  must 


206  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

be  written  in  the  receipt  by  the  company's  agent 
or  clerk,  at  the  time. 

In  case  the  article  receipted  for  is  a  money  par 
cel,  or  negotiable  paper,  its  envelope  should  be 
marked  with  its  value,  and  sealed  by  the  person  in 
trusting  it  to  the  Express.  This  is  an  important 
precaution,  both  for  the  customer  and  the  company. 

INSURANCE  of  packages  is  sometimes  endorsed 
upon  the  receipt,  when  the  customer  orders  it  and 
pays  the  insurance  premium;  the  Express  Com 
panies  having  what  are  well  known  as  "  Open  Poli 
cies77  at  the  Insurance  Offices,  in  which  to  enter  the 
risks  so  assumed. 

Having  premised  thus  much,  to  show  the  nature 
and  extent  of  the  responsibility  assumed  by  the 
Express  Companies  in  behalf  of  their  customers, 
we  will  proceed  to  quote  a  few  trials  and  decisions, 
to  indicate  the  judicial  view  of  Express  Carriers7 
duties  and  liability: 

RUSSELL  &  ANNIS  v.  LIVINGSTON  &  WELLS. 

Where  a  package,  delivered  to  common  carriers  for  transportation 
along  their  route,  on  its  way  to  a  consignee  upon  a  lateral 
route  branching  off  from  that  of  the  carriers,  is  addressed  to 
the  care  of  the  agent  and  representative  of  the  carriers  at  the 
place  where  the  carriage  by  them  is  to  terminate,  such  address 
is  to  be  regarded  as  a  direction  to  have  the  package  stopped  at 
the  place  were  such  agent  is  in  charge  of  the  carriers'  business, 
and  does  not  import  that  upon  receiving  it  he  ceases  to  be  the 
agent  of  the  carriers  in  respect  to  its  custody  and  becomes  that 
of  the  consignee. 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  207 

APPEAL  from  the  Supreme  Court.  The  action 
was  brought  to  recover  the  value  of  a  package  of 
money  delivered  to  the  defendants,  as  common 
carriers,  to  be  carried  to  the  plaintiffs,  and  which 
was  lost.  Upon  the  trial  at  the  Ontario  circuit,  the 
plaintiffs  proved  the  delivery  at  Amsterdam,  by  the 
teller  of  the  Farmers'  Bank  of  Amsterdam,  to  a 
messenger  in  the  employment  of  the  defendants, 
and  then  in  a  railroad  car  used  by  the  defendants 
for  the  transportation  of  packages  intrusted  to 
them,  of  a  package  of  money  containing  $981. 
The  package  was  marked  and  directed : 

' '  Russell  &  Annis, 

"  Care  of  Dawley,  "  Port  Gibson. 

"Express  Agent,  Vienna.— $981.' 

and  was  so  directed  in  pursuance  of  the  order  of 
the  plaintiffs.  It  was  proved  that  the  defendants' 
business  was  carried  on  along  the  line  of  the  Cen 
tral  Railroad  from  Albany  to  Buffalo,  and  that  they 
had  agents  and  kept  offices  in  the  cities  and  princi 
pal  villages  along  the  line  of  the  railroad,  solely 
for  their  Express  business.  The  agent  at  Canan- 
daigua  was  a  witness  for  the  plaintiffs,  and  testified 
that  he  was  in  the  habit  of  receiving  packages  at 
the  cars;  if  the  place  of  destination  was  on  a  side 
route,  off  from  the  railroad,  he  kept  them  till  they 
were  called  for;  if  directed  to  persons  in  his  village 
he  delivered  them  personally;  he  had  an  iron  safe 
to  keep  them  in,  which  was  the  joint  property  of 
himself  and  the  defendants;  he  frequently  received 
Express  packages  addressed  to  consignees  off  the 
railroad,  and  further  addressed  to  his  care  as  "Ex 
press  agent,"  and  that  he  treated  and  delivered 
them,  as  he  did  all  other  packages,  as  before  men- 


208  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

tioned.  Dawley,  the  defendants'  agent  at  Vienna, 
was  also  a  witness  for  the  plaintiffs.  He  proved 
the  receipt  of  the  packages  in  question  by  him; 
the  package  was  kept  over  night,  in  his  office^  in  an 
iron  safe  belonging  to  the  defendants.  He  cor 
roborated  the  testimony  of  the  agent  at  Canandai- 
gua  as  to  the  defendants'  mode  of  doing  their  busi 
ness.  He  further  testified  that  he  was  in  the  habit 
of  sending  packages  to  Port  Gibson,  which  is  off 
the  line  of  the  railroad,  by  a  stage  line;  the  pack 
age  in  question  was  sent  in  that  manner  the  next 
morning  after  it  arrived  at  Vienna,  and  was  lost. 

The  defendants'  counsel  asked  the  court  to  non 
suit  the  plaintiffs,  on  the  ground  that,  from  the  evi 
dence,  the  duty  of  the  defendants  was  to  carry  the 
package  to  Vienna  and  there  deliver  it  to  Dawley, 
and,  having  done  that,  their  liability  was  at  an  end. 
The  judge  decided  that  the  defendants  were  to  be 
held  as  common  carriers  from  Amsterdam  to  Vien 
na,  but  not  from  Amsterdam  to  Port  Gibson;  and 
that  the  evidence  established  that  Dawley  was  the 
agent  of  the  plaintiffs  to  receive  from  the  defend 
ants  the  package  in  question  at  Vienna,  and  that 
it  was  delivered  by  the  defendants  to  him,  and  held 
by  him,  as  such  agent,  for  which  reasons  the  defend 
ants  were  not  liable.  He  directed  a  nonsuit,  and 
the  plaintiffs  took  exceptions.  The  judgment 
thereupon  entered  for  the  defendants  was  on  ap 
peal  affirmed  by  the  Supreme  Court,  at  general 
term  in  'the  seventh  district,  and  the  plaintiffs  ap 
pealed  to  this  court. 

Henry  R  Selden,  for  the  appellants. 

Cambridge  Livingston,  for  the  respondents. 

JOHNSON,  Ch.  J.     The  plaintiffs  were  nonsuited 


E  X  F  U  ESS      HISTORY.  209 

at  the  trial,  iipon  the  ground  that  the  evidence  es 
tablished  that  Dawley  was  their  agent  to  receive 
the  package  in  question  at  Vienna,  and  that  it  was 
delivered  by  the  defendants  to  him,  and  received 
and  held  by  him  as  the  plaintiffs'  agent. 

The  testimony  of  defendants'  agent  at  Canan- 
daigua  showed  that  the  practice  at  his  agency  was 
to  retain  packages  addressed  to  persons  and  pla 
ces  not  on  the  direct  line  of  the  Express  routes, 
until  they  were  called  for,  or  written  directions 
were  received  from  the  consignee;  and  that  pack 
ages  so  directed,  and  further  addressed  to  his  care 
as  "  Express  agent,'7  were  dealt  with  in  the  same 
manner.  Dawley,  the  agent  at  Vienna,  likewise 
stated  that  he  treated  and  delivered  packages  ad 
dressed  to  consignees  off  the  line  of  the  railroad, 
and  to  his  care  as  "  Express  agent,"  in  the  same 
way  as  he  did  all  other  Express  packages.  He  also 
stated  that  he  had  heard  the  testimony  of  the  Ca- 
nandaigua  agent,  and  agreed  with  him  as  to  the  de 
fendants'  mode  of  doing  their  business.  So  far  as 
his  recollection  served  him  to  specify  cases  in  which 
he  had  such  packages  addressed  to  persons  off  the 
direct  line,  he  had  received  specific  instructions  from 
the  consignees;  but  in  one  case  he  thought  he  had 
sent  a  package  to  persons  whom  he  named,  and  could 
not  say  whether  or  not  they  had  given  him  any  in 
structions.  It  is  manifest,  therefore,  that  the  ruling 
at  the  trial  was  based  upon  the  legal  effect  of  the  di 
rection  upon  the  package;  for  all  the  other  evidence 
in  the  case  tended  to  show  that,  according  to  the 
usual  course  of  the  defendants'  business,  what  Daw- 
ley  did  at  Vienna  with  this  package  was  done  as 
the  agent  of  the  defendants  and  not  of  the  plaintiffs. 

Ordinarily,  the  address  of  a  package  to  the  care 

14 


210  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

of  any  one  is  an  authority  to  the  carrier  to  deliver 
it  to  such  person;  but  when  the  person  to  whom  it 
is  thus  addressed  is  the  agent  and  principal  repre 
sentative  of  the  carrier  himself,  at  the  point  where 
the  carnage  is  to  terminate,  it  may  be  regarded  as 
a  mere  expansion  of  the  ordinary  direction  to  have 
it  stopped  at  the  place  on  the  route  where  that 
agent  is  in  charge  of  the  business.  It  should  be  so 
regarded;  for  there  is  no  probable  reason  why  a 
person  sending  a  package  should  be  supposed  to 
choose  to  terminate  the  carrier's  responsibility  and 
substitute  that  of  the  carrier's  agent,  when  by  such 
change  no  new  duty  would  be  created,  and  the 
package  would  be  dealt  with  in  either  case  by  the 
same  person  and  in  the  same  way.  The  only  ob 
ject  in  giving  such  a  direction  which  could  be  sup 
posed  would  be  to  change  the  responsibility  from 
the  carrier  to  the  agent  appointed  by  the  carrier; 
and  as  such  a  change  would  usually  impair  the  se 
curity  of  the  owner,  as  he  must  be  taken  generally 
to  know  more  about  the  carrier  whom  he  employs 
than  about  the  carrier's  agent,  of  whom  he  will  com 
monly  know  only  the  name,  it  would  be  acting 
against  the  natural  presumptions  which  arise  from 
the  situation  of  the  parties  to  attribute  to  the  owner 
such  an  intention. 

It  was  therefore  erroneous  to  hold  as  matter  of 
law  that  Dawley  received  the  package  as  the  plaint 
iffs  agent,  and  there  must  be  a  new  trial. 

SELDEN,  J.,  expressed  no  opinion.  All  the  other 
judges  concurred,  intending,  however,  to  exclude 
any  implication  that  the  defendants  were  under  an 
obligation  to  transport  the  package  to  Newark. 

Judgment  reversed  and  new  trial  ordered. 


tf^&R^ft^ 

^  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  211 

HOLFORD  v.  ADAMS  and  others. 

The  defendants,  an  Express  Company,  received  from  the  agents  of 
the  plaintiff,  at  New  Orleans,  a  package  valued  at  $40,000,  to 
be  transported  and  delivered  to  the  plaintiff  at  New  York. 
By  the  terms  of  the  receipt  given  for  the  package,  the  defend 
ants  were  not  to  be  responsible  for  any  loss  or  damage  not 
arising  from  their  own  fraud  or  gross  negligence,  or  that  of  their 
servants;  and  it  was  proved  that  there  was  the  same  care  in 
the  transportation  of  all  articles  without  regard  to  their  value. 
When  the  package  arrived  at  New  York,  the  defendants  refus 
ed  to  deliver  it  to  the  plaintiff,  unless  upon  the  payment  of  $400, 
being  1  per  cent,  upon  its  estimated  value. 

Held,  that,  under  these  circumstances,  there  was  no  reason  for 
enhancing  the  charge  for  transportation  in  proportion  to  the 
value  of  the  articles  transported,  and  that  the  charge  made  was 
therefore,  prima  facie,  unreasonable  and  extravagant. 

Hdd,  also,  that  the  charge  was  not  justified  by  usage,  the  usage 
proved  not  being  general,  but  that  of  the  defendants  alone,  and 
there  being  no  proof  that  it  was  known  to  the  plaintiff  or  his 
agents. 

(Before  OAKLEY,  Ch.  J.,  and  EMMET,  J.) 
November  11;  December  10,  1853. 

APPEAL  by  plaintiff  from  a  judgment,  at  special 
term,  upon  exceptions  taken  at  the  trial. 

The  action  was  for  the  delivery  of  personal  prop 
erty,  with  damages  for  its  detention. 

The  complaint  charged  that  Robb  &  Co.,  agents 
of  the  plaintiff  at  New  Orleans,  on  the  llth  of  De 
cember,  1851,  delivered  to  the  defendants,  trans 
acting  business  under  the  name  of  Adams  &  Co., 
a  package  containing  Arkansas  bonds  of  $1,000 
each,  with  coupons  attached,  belonging  to  the  pliant- 
iff,  to  be  transported  by  the  defendants,  by  steam 
er  from  New  Orleans  to  the  City  of  New  York. 


212  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

and  there  to  be  delivered  to  the  plaintiff  for  a  rea 
sonable  consideration,  to  be  paid  by  him  to  the  de 
fendants.  That  when  the  package  was  so  delivered 
the  agent  of  the  defendants,  at  New  Orleans,  signed 
and  delivered  a  receipt  therefor,  by  which  it  was 
stipulated  that  the  defendants  should  not  be  respon 
sible  for  any  loss  or  damage  arising  from  the  dan 
gers  of  the  sea,  steam  or  river  navigation,  or  from 
any  cause  whatever,  unless  the  same  should  be 
proved  to  have  occurred  from  the  fraud  or  gross 
negligence  of  the  defendants,  their  servants  or 
agents. 

The  complaint  then  averred  that  the  defendants 
had  transported  the  package  to  New  York;  that  he, 
the  plaintiff,  had  tendered  to  them  a  reasonable 
sum  as  a  compensation  for  transporting  it,  and  had 
demanded  its  delivery;  but  that  they  had  refused 
to  deliver  and  still  retained  it:  and  then  demanded 
judgment  in  the  usual  form. 

The  defendants,  in  their  answer,  denied  that  the 
package  containing  the  bonds  was  delivered  to  them, 
to  be  transported  to  New  York,  and  there  delivered 
to  the  plaintiff  for  a  reasonable  consideration.  They 
denied  that  any  receipt  was  signed  or  given,  as 
alleged  in  the  complaint;  and  that  the  plaintiff  had 
offered  to  pay  to  them  a  reasonable  sum  as  a  com 
pensation  for  transporting  the  package. 

They  averred  that  when  the  package  was  deliver 
ed  to  them  at  New  Orleans,  Robb  &  Co.  expressly 
stated  that  the  bonds  which  it  contained  were  of 
the  value  of  $40,000;  and  that  it  was  then  express 
ly  understood  and  agreed  between  them  and  Robb 
&  Co.,  that,  in  consideration  of  their  taking  charge 
of,  transporting,  and  delivering  the  package,  the 
plaintiff  would  pay  to  them,  upon  its  delivery  to 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  213 

him  in  New  York,  one  per  cent,  upon  the  value  of 
the  bonds,  as  represented  and  fixed.  They  then 
insisted  that  they  were  entitled  to  retain  the  posses 
sion  of  the  bonds  until  this  sum,  amounting  to  $400, 
should  be  paid,  which  they  averred  was  no  more 
than  a  reasonable  and  usual  compensation  for  the 
transportation  of  similar  packages.  The  reply  took 
issue  upon  the  new  allegations  in  the  answer. 

The  cause  was  tried  before  PAINE,  J.,  and  a  jury, 
in  December,  1852.  Upon  the  trial,  the  counsel 
for  the  plaintiff  read  the  following  stipulation: 

'  Whereas  this  suit  has  been  commenced  by  the 
plaintiff  to  recover  the  possession  of  certain  bonds 
and  coupons  in  the  complaint  described,  and  dam 
ages  for  the  detention  thereof,  and  the  defendants 
claiming  a  lien  on  said  bonds  and  coupons,  and  a 
right  to  detain  the  same,  for  their  labor  and  ser 
vices  in  the  transportation  thereof,  from  New  Or 
leans  to  the  City  of  New  York; 

"And  whereas  the  defendants  have  surrendered 
up  to  the  plaintiff  the  possession  of  said  bonds  and 
coupons  under  the  agreement  hereinafter  set  forth; 

"  Now  it  is  stipulated  and  agreed  between  the 
attorneys  for  the  respective  parties,  that,  upon  the 
trial  of  this  action,  the  jury  shall  assess  the  amount 
to  which  the  defendants  are  entitled  for  such  labor 
and  service;  and  that  in  case  the  amount  so  as 
sessed  shall  exceed  the  amount  heretofore  tendered 
by  the  plaintiff,  namely,  twenty  dollars,  the  defend 
ants  shall  be  entitled  to  judgment  with  costs,  and 
the  plaintiff  shall,  upon  demand,  pay  to  the  defend 
ants  such  judgment,  and  the  costs  and  extra  allow 
ance  of  this  suit,  or  return  such  bonds  and  coupons 
to  the  defendants,  to  be  held  by  them  as  a  security 
for  the  payment  thereof,  in  the  same  manner,  and 


EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

with  the  same  right  of  lien,  as   though  they  had 
never  parted  with  the  possession  thereof. 

"Dated,  New  York,  April  3d,  1852. 

"  TUCKER  &  CRAPO, 

"Att'ysPltff. 

"E.  H.  OWEN, 

"  Defts.  Att'y." 

The  counsel  for  the  plaintiff  then  rested  his  case. 

It  was  then  admitted  by  the  counsel  for  the  de 
fendants,  that  a  receipt  for  the  package  had  been 
given  by  their  agent  at  New  Orleans,  which  cor 
responded  in  its  terms  with  the  statement  in  the 
complaint. 

The  counsel  for  the  plaintiff  then  admitted,  that 
on  the  outside  of  the  envelope  which  contained  the 
bonds  was  endorsed  the  words  and  figures  "  James 
Holford,  Esq.,  49  William  Street,  New  York— value 
$40,000." 

The  counsel  for  the  defendants  then  called 
A.  L.  Stimson,  who,  being  sworn,  testified  as  fol 
lows:  I  am  an  expressman  in  Adams  &  Co.'s  office; 
I  have  been  there  about  three  years;  I  am  in  the 
New  Orleans  department;  I  have  charge  of  it;  the 
business  of  Adams  &  Co.  consists  in  transporting 
parcels  and  freight  to  most  parts  of  the  country, 
and  also  to  California;  they  also  transport  valuable 
packages,  which  compensates  for  the  small  amounts 
they  receive  for  the  carriage  of  articles  of  small 
intrinsic  value;  in  the  transportation  of  parcels,  the 
valuable  parcels  compensate  for  transporting  less 
valuable  packages,  and  enable  Adams  &  Co.  to 
transport  the  less  valuable  packages  cheaper  than 


K  X  !'  I{  K  S  S      HIS  T  0  R  Y  .  215 

they  otherwise  would;  we  have  agencies  at  the  prin 
cipal  points  of  the  Union. 

Being  asked  by  the  defendants'  counsel  what 
was  the  usual  compensation  of  Adams  &  Co.  for 
receiving  at  New  Orleans,  and  for  transporting  and 
delivering  in  New  York,  packages  of  value;  the 
question  was  objected  to  by  the  plaintiff's  counsel, 
which  objection  was  overruled  by  the  judge;  to 
which  decision  of  the  judge  the  plaintiff's  counsel 
excepted.  The  witness  answered,  One  per  cent, 
on  the  value  of  the  package. 

Counsel  for  the  defendants  then  asked  the  witness: 

What  is  the  usual  charge  of  other  expressmen 
and  carriers,  for  transporting  packages  of  value 
from  New  Orleans  to  New  York  ? 

To  which  question  the  plaintiff's  counsel  objected, 
which  objection  was  overruled;  to  which  decision 
of  the  judge  the  plaintiff's  counsel  objected. 

The  witness  then  answered,  One  per  cent,  on  the 
value — that  is  the  usual  charge  of  Adams  &  Co. ;  it 
is  my  impression  that  the  steamships  charged  at 
the  same  rate ;  it  is  invariably  our  customary  charge ; 
we  make  special  bargains  with  people  sometimes. 

Being  cross-examined  by  the  plaintiff's  counsel, 
the  witness  testified: 

There  are  about  sixty  Express  offices  in  the  city 
of  New  York;  this  number  includes  all  sorts — the 
local  expresses  as  well  as  the  large  ones;  I  never 
was  employed  in  the  express  business  before  I  en 
gaged  with  Adams  &  Co.;  I  have  never  known 
Adams  &  Co.  to  transport  Arkansas  bonds  before; 
I  don't  remember  their  transporting  any  bonds  ex 
cept  some  Texas  bonds;  I  can't  say  whether  they 
did  or  not;  I  don't  remember  any  other  bonds  than 
the  Texas  and  Arkansas  bonds. 


216  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

Being  asked  by  plaintiff's  counsel  what  articles 
of  value  the  defendants  have  forwarded,  he  says: 

I  cannot  name  any  articles  of  value  particularly; 
I  cannot  name  a  single  parcel;  I  remember  a  parcel 
of  gold  dust  worth  $1,000. 

Being  again  examined  in  the  direct,  the  witness 
said: 

Packages,  when  brought  to  us  to  be  forwarded, 
are  usually  sealed;  we  rely  as  to  the  value  of  the 
package  on  the  declaration  of  the  party  employing 
us;  sometimes  he  don't  declare  its  value;  we  then 
let  it  go  as  a  common  parcel;  the  charge  on  these 
bonds  as  a  common  parcel  would  have  been  $1,50; 
there  is  no  difference  between  parcels  of  valuable 
goods  and  common  articles  in  the  care  we  take  of 
them;  we  charge  one  per  cent,  on  the  value  over  a 
certain  amount;  I  remember  the  bill  of  this  parcel; 
when  this  package  was  received  it  was  sealed;  we 
always  ask  as  to  the  contents. 

Being  again  cross-examined,  the  witness  testified: 

We  did  not  insure  this  parcel;  I  remember  for 
warding  gold  dust;  they  sometimes  transport  goods 
for  jewelers,  and  we  generally  make  a  bargain  with 
them  as  to  compensation. 

In  answer  to  a  question  of  the  judge,  the  witness 
said,  The  receipt  produced  is  in  the  common  form 
of  the  receipts  we  give. 

In  answer  to  a  question  from  one  of  the  jury,  the 
witness  said,  I  do  not  remember  that  we  ever  car 
ried  anything  for  Robb  or  Holford  except  this  one 
package. 

The  defendants'  counsel  then  called 

William  McGill,  who,  being  sworn,  testified:  I 
am  an  expressman  in  the  employ  of  Adams  &  Co.; 
have  been  with  them  twelve  months  last  May;  they 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  217 

are  at  59  Broadway;  I  am  employed  in  the  Califor 
nia  department,  in  the  general  department.  Being 
asked  what  is  the  usual  rate  of  charge  of  Adams 
&  Co.  for  valuable  articles  from  New  Orleans  to 
New  York,  the  plaintiff's  counsel  objected  to  the 
question,  which  objection  was  overruled  by  the 
court;  to  which  decision  the  plaintiff's  counsel  ex- 
cepted.  The  witness  then  answered,  One  per  cent. 

Being  cross-examined  by  the  plaintiff's  counsel, 
the  witness  testified: 

That  he  had  never  been  in  the  express  business 
excepting  in  the  employ  of  the  defendants. 

The  plaintiff's  counsel  then  offered  to  show  that 
the  bonds,  to  recover  which  this  action  is  brought, 
were  actually  bought  by  the  plaintiff  in  December, 
1851,  for  $26,000. 

To  which  offer  the  defendants'  counsel  objected, 
which  objection  was  sustained  by  the  court;  to 
which  decision  the  plaintiff's  counsel  excepted. 

The  cause  was  then  summed  up  by  the  counsel 
for  defendants  and  plaintiff. 

Whereupon  the  judge  charged  the  jury,  That  if 
they  believed,  from  the  evidence,  that  the  custom 
ary  charge  by  express  offices  was  one  per  cent,  on 
valuable  articles  from  New  Orleans  to  New  York, 
they  should  find  for  the  defendants  to  that  amount 
on  the  value  of  the  package,  as  the  same  was  mark 
ed  on  the  package,  and  declared  to  the  agent  in 
New  Orleans  when  the  receipt  was  taken.  That 
with  regard  to  the  value,  the  sum  of  $40,000,  de 
clared  to  the  agent  in  New  Orleans,  and  marked  on 
the  package,  and  inserted  in  the  receipt,  was  to  be 
taken  as  the  value. 

That  if  the  jury  should  think  that  the  $20  tender 
ed  by  the  plaintiff  was,  under  the-  evidence,  enough 

14* 


218  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

for  bringing  this  package,  they  would  find  for  the 
plaintiff. 

If  not,  they  would  find  for  defendants  what  they 
thought  a  proper  compensation. 

To  this  charge  of  the  judge,  and  to  each  and 
every  part  thereof,  the  counsel  for  the  plaintiff 
excepted. 

Whereupon  the  jury  found  a  verdict  of  $425  for 
the  defendants. 

T.  Tucker,  for  the  plaintiff,  now  insisted  that  the 
judgment  entered  upon  the  verdict  ought  to  be  re 
versed,  the  verdict  set  aside,  and  a  new  trial  order 
ed,  and  rested  his  argument  upon  the  following 
points  and  authorities: 

I.  The  plaintiff  had  a  right  to  the  possession  of 
the  bonds  in  question,  upon  tendering  to  the  de 
fendants  the  sum  of  $20.     1.  The  evidence  does 
not  present  any  facts  from  which  the  plaintiff  can 
claim  compensation  for  more  than  a  common  par 
cel.     2.  It  appears,  from  the  receipt  given  by  the 
defendants,  that  they  were  not  responsible  for  any 
risk,  excepting  for  their  own  fraud.     3.   It  also  ap 
pears,  from  defendants'  receipt,  that  their  charge  in 
this  instance  was  not  for  insurance.     4.  It  was  also 
proved  that  the  defendants  bestowed  no  more  care 
on  this  than  they  would  have  given  a  common  par 
cel.     5.  The  bonds  were  not  valuable  articles,  but 
mere  evidences  of  debt,  the  destruction  of  which 
would  not  have  involved  a  loss  of  their  nominal 
amount. 

II.  There  was   no   commercial  or    other    usage 
which  justified  the  defendants  in  charging,  or  obliged 
the  plaintiff  to    pay,  $400  for    the   transportation 
of  the  package  in  question.     1.  A  usage  like  that 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  219 

claimed  by  the  defendants  must  be  so  well  settled, 
and  of  so  long  continuance,  as  to  raise  a  fair  pre 
sumption  that  it  was  known  to  both  contracting 
parties,  and  that  their  contract  made  reference  to 
it  (Eager  v.  Atlas  Insurance  Co.,  14  Pick.  143; 
Rayney  v.  Vernon,  9  Carrington  &  P.)  It  must  be 
so  uniform  and  universal,  that  every  one  in  the 
trade  must  be  taken  to  know  it  ( Wood  v.  Wood,  1 
Carr  &  Payne,  59;  3  Phil.  Ev,  Cowen  &  Hill's 
Notes,  1422;  Story  on  Contracts,  sec.  650,  p.  5750, 
2d  ed.)  Neither  of  these  requisites  is  supplied  by 
the  defendants'  testimony.  2.  The  testimony  of 
the  defendants1  witnesses  was  not  competent  to  es 
tablish  the  existence  of  a  usage.  The  witnesses. 
two  in  number,  were  in  the  defendants'  employ, 
and  had  never  had  any  other  experience  in  the 
Express  business.  Their  experience  in  the  Ex 
press  business  did  not  exceed  one  year;  and  their 
knowledge  as  to  transportation  of  bonds  is  confined 
to  one  instance.  Evidence  of  a  few  instances  is  not 
sufficient  to  establish  a  usage  (3  Chitty  Com.  Law, 
45;  1  Marsh,  186.)  Usage  must  be  proved  by  wit 
nesses  who  have  had  frequent  and  actual  experi 
ence  of  the  usage  (2  Green's  Ev.  208.) 

III.  The  defendants'  customary  charge  for  trans 
porting  packages  was  not  binding  upon  the  plaintiff, 
it  being  in  evidence  that  neither  he  nor  his  agent 
had  had  any  prior  dealings  with  defendants,  and 
there  being  no  evidence  that  the  plaintiff  knew,  or 
had  notice,  that  there  was  any  customary  charge. 
"For  whatever  may  have  been  the  usage,  it  can 
have  no  effect  on  a  contract  unless  adopted  by  the 
parties,"  (Eager  v.  Atlas  Insurance  Co.,  14  Pick.  143; 
Snowden  v.  Warner,  3  Rawle,  p.  106.)  The  usages 
of  individuals  cannot  affect  these  contracts,  unless  it 


220  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

appear  that  the  usage  was  known  to  the  parties 
with  whom  they  contracted  (Loring  v.  Gurney,  5 
Pick.  16;  Garay  v.  Lloyd,  3  Barr.  &  Or.  793;  Lau 
rence  v.  Stonington  Bank,  6  Co  wen  R.  521;  Rus- 
forth  v.  Hadfield,  7  East.  225;  Kinkman  v.  Shadcross, 
6  T.  R.  4;  2  Phill.  on  Ev.,  p.  37;  Lewis  v.  Mar  shall, 
13  Lawson,  (N.S.);  Duer  on  Jus.,  vol.  i.,  pp.  179, 
182,  193,  254,  in  Notes  x.  toxiii.;  Winstroopv.  Union 
Insurance  Co.,  2  Wash.  C.  C.  R.  16;  Astor  v.  Union 
Insurance  Co.,  7  Co  wen,  202;  Syces  v.  Bridge,  2 
Doug.  527.)  There  must  be  a  general  usage,  or 
universal  custom,  brought  home  to  the  knowledge 
of  the  party  defendant;  or  it  must  be  the  special 
course  or  habit  of  dealing  with  one  of  the  parties, 
recognized  and  assented  to  by  the  other  (Story  on 
Contr.,  sec.  14;  Wood  v.  Eickock  §•  Harris,  2  Wend. 
501;  Child  v.  Sun  Mutual  Insurance  Co.) 

IV.  The  testimony  of  A.  L.  Stimson  and  W.  Mc- 
Gill  in  relation  to  the  usual  rate  of  charge  for  valu 
able  articles,  was  irrelevant,  and  ought  to  have 
been  excluded. 

Y.  The  judge  erred  in  his  charge  to  the  jury, 
because:  1.  If  there  was  a  customary  charge  of  one 
per  cent,  on  valuable  articles  by  the  Express  office, 
the  plaintiff  had  no  knowledge  or  notice  of  it,  im 
plied  or  direct,  and  is  not  bound  by  it.  2.  If  such 
a  charge  were  proper  for  valuable  articles,  it  could 
riot  be  applied  to  the  transportation  of  Arkansas 
bonds,  these  having  no  intrinsic  value,  and  being 
evidences  of  value  merely.  The  plaintiff's  right  to 
recover  the  amount  specified  in  the  bonds  would 
still  remain,  although  the  bonds  were  lost  or  de 
stroyed.  The  plaintiff  could  not  have  recovered  the 
stated  or  nominal  value  of  such  bonds  of  the  defend 
ants,  under  any  circumstances.  Such  bonds,  there- 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  221 

fore,  are  not  valuable  articles  upon  which  the  defend 
ants  can  charge  a  per  centage.  3.  The  plain  tiff  was 
not  excluded  from  proving  the  actual  value  of  said 
bonds  by  the  amount  stated  in  the  receipt;  there 
being  no  evidence  of  the  manner,  or  by  whom  such 
statement  was  made,  or  that  the  plaintiff  or  his 
agent  ever  assented  to  it.  4.  There  was  no  evi 
dence  that  any  declaration  whatever  was  made  in 
New  Orleans  by  the  plaintiff's  agent. 

G.  F.  Belts,  for  the  defendants,  contra. 

I.  The  charge  of  the  judge  was  correct,  in  leav 
ing  it  to  the  jury  to  determine  what  was  the  proper 
compensation  (Chitty  on  Contracts,  p.  547;  Chap 
man  v.  De  Tastel  2  Stark.  295;  Bryan  v.  Flight, 
5  Mees.  &  W.  114.) 

II.  It  was  correctly  submitted  to  the  jury,  that 
if,  from  the  evidence,  they  believed  that  the  cus 
tomary  charge  by  Express  offices  was  one  per  cent, 
on  valuable    articles  from   New  Orleans   to    New 
York,  they  should  find  for  the  defendants  to  that 
amount  (Hinton  v.  Locke,  5  Hill,  437;  Vailv.  Rice, 
1  Seld.  155,  158.) 

III.  The  evidence  as  to  the  customary  charge  of 
Adams  &  Co.  was  competent:  1.  To  show  what  was 
a  reasonable  or   proper  compensation;    that  they 
only  asked  from  the  defendants  what  they  asked 
from  all  their  other  customers.     2.  It  was  not  offer 
ed  to  prove  a  local  usage  of  that  house,  nor  was  it 
so  submitted  to  the  jury  by  the  court.     3.  A  gen 
eral  usage  having  been  proved,  this  evidence  could 
do  no  harm,  being  included  in  the  other. 

IV.  The  sum  of  $40,000,  declared  to  the  agent 
of  Adams  &  Co.,  at  New  Orleans,  by  Robb  &  Co., 
marked  on  the  packages,  and  inserted  in  the  receipt, 


222  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

was  to  be  taken  as  the  value.  1.  Robb  &  Co.  were 
plaintiff's  agents.  (Letter  from  Tucker  &  Crapo.) 
And  their  declaration  and  contract  are  binding  on 
the  plaintiff  (Story,  Agency,  §  135.)  2.  This  was 
the  contract  between  consignor  and  carrier  (En 
dorsement  on  envelope;  Smith  v.  James,  7  Cowen, 
328;  Wolfe  v.  Myers,  3  Sand.  7-13.) 

Y.  If  the  bonds  had  been  actually  purchased 
by  plaintiff  for  $26,000,  that  was  not  evidence 
against  the  defendants.  1.  It  was  res  inter  olios 
acta.  2.  The  plaintiffs  were  estopped,  by  their  ad 
missions  and  contract,  from  showing  the  value  to 
have  been  other  than  $40,000  (Truscott  v.  Denis, 
4  Barb.  498;  Wetland  Canal  Co.  v.  Hathaway,  8 
Wend.  483.) 

BY  THE  COURT.  OAKLEY,  CH.  J. — As  no  proof 
was  given  on  the  part  of  the  defendants  of  the  Ex 
press  agreement  set  up  in  their  answer,  they  were 
entitled  to  demand  no  more  than  a  reasonable  com 
pensation  for  the  service  which  they  performed. 
By  the  receipt  which  they  gave  for  the  package, 
they  were  exempt  from  the  usual  liability  of  com 
mon  carriers  as  insurers.  They  were  not  responsi 
ble  for  any  loss  or  damage,  arising  from  any  other 
cause  than  the  fraud  or  gross  negligence  of  them- 
seves,  their  agents  or  servants;  and  their  witnesses 
proved  that  the  same  care  and  diligence  were  be 
stowed  in  the  transportation  of  all  articles  and  pack 
ages  intrusted  to  their  charge,  without  reference  to 
their  value.  It  is  not  perceived,  therefore,  that 
there  was  any  reason  for  enhancing  the  charge  for 
transportation  in  proportion  to  the  value  of  the 
articles  transported,  and,  consequently,  the  charge 
which  the  defendants  made,  which  even  exceeds 
the  usual  rate  of  insurance  from  New  Orleans  to 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  223 

New  York,  was  apparently  unreasonable  and  ex 
travagant. 

We  are  not,  however,  to  be  understood  as  saying, 
that  the  charge  made,  unreasonable  as  it  seems, 
may  not  be  sanctioned  by  usage;  but  it  is  certain 
no  usage  could  justify  the  charge,  unless  its  charac 
ter  were  proved  to  be  such  as  to  warrant  the  pre 
sumption  that  it  was  known  to  both  parties,  and 
that  their  contract  was  made  in  reference  to  its  ex 
istence;  in  other  words,  that  it  was  known  to  Robb 
&  Co.,  the  agents  of  the  plaintiff,  when  they  deliv 
ered  the  package  to  the  defendants,  and  that,  by 
their  silence  at  that  time,  they  consented  to  be 
bound  by  it. 

Had  it  been  proved  that  there  was  a  general,  uni 
form,  and  notorious  usage,  justifying  the  charge 
made  by  the  defendants,  the  law  would  have  im 
puted  to  the  plaintiff  and  his  agents  a  knowledge 
of  its  existence;  but  there  was  no  pretence  for  say 
ing  that  any  such  evidence  was  given.  If  any 
usage  was  proved,  it  was  of  the  defendants  alone. 
It  was  special  and  particular,  not  general;  and  such 
being  its  character,  we  deem  it  needless  to  cite 
authorities  to  show  that,  to  render  it  binding  on  the 
plaintiff,  his  or  his  agent's  actual  knowledge  of  its 
existence  and  terms  was  necessary  to  be  proved. 
The  evidence,  even,  of  the  existence  of  this  limited 
usage  was  slight  and  unsatisfactory;  and  there  was 
none  whatever  from  which  a  jury  could  be  warrant 
ed  to  infer,  that  its  existence  was  known  to  the 
plaintiff  or  to  Robb  &  Co. 

The  judge,  however,  upon  the  trial,  charged  the 
jury,  that  if  they  believed,  from  the  evidence,  that 
the  customary  charge  by  Express  offices  was  one 
per  cent,  on  valuable  articles  from  New  Orleans  to 


224  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

New  York,  they  should  find  for  the  defendants  to 
that  amount,  on  the  value  of  the  package.  We 
think  that  this  charge  was  erroneous,  and  that,  upon 
the  evidence  before  the  court,  the  queston  of  usage 
ought  not  to  have  been  submitted  to  the  jury  at 
all.  We  have,  however,  no  right  to  say  that  it  was 
not  upon  this  evidence  that  their  verdict  was  found 
ed,  and  it  must  therefore  be  set  aside. 

The  judgment  set  aside,  and  a  new  trial  ordered; 
costs  to  abide  the  event. 

NOTE. — We  cannot  but  regard  the  judicial  decision  in  the  above 
case  as  wrong.  The  inference  of  the  honorable  court,  that  the 
Express  charge  of  one  per  cent,  was  exorbitant,  was  based  en 
tirely  upon  Judge  Oakley's  idea  that  "  the  bonds  were  not  valuable 
articles,  but  mere  evidences  of  debt."  We  must  respectfully  beg 
leave  to  say,  that  were  his  Honor's  premise  right,  his  deduction 
would  be  a  fair  one ;  but  his  basis  was  utterly  unsound.  Had  that 
package  of  Arkansas  bonds  been  lost  by  Adams  &  Co.,  it  would 
have  been  optional  perhaps  with  the  State  of  Arkansas  to  substi 
tute  others  for  them;  and  at  the  best,  weeks  and  months  must 
have  elapsed  before  it  would  have  been  done.  In  the  meantime, 
Arkansas  bonds,  which  had  already  fallen  much  below  par,  might 
have  gone  down  to  a  much  lower  figure;  in  which  case  Holford 
would  have  undoubtedly  held  Adams  &  Co.  liable  for  the  whole 
amount  of  the  decline  on  his  "  $40,000"  parcel  of  bonds  from  the 
time  when  in  due  course  they  should  have  been  delivered  to  him 
by  the  Express.  In  New  Orleans,  his  agent,  or  himself,  stated 
their  value  to  be  $40,000,  and  had  it  so  written  down  in  the  Ex 
press  receipt  then  given  him;  but  in  New  York,  in  the  trial  of 
the  case,  it  is  stated  by  his  counsel  that  they  were  worth  only 
$26,000 — a  fluctuation  in  their  value,  indicating  a  capacity  to  fall 
much  lower  yet.  In  the  jury  trial,  (in  which  the  verdict  was  in 
favor  of  the  Express  Company, )  the  jury  was  composed  mostly  of 
experienced  mercantile  men,  and  their  foreman  was  a  gentleman 
who  has  been  a  commercial  lawyer,  hi  high  standing,  for  many 
years. — ED.  EXPRESS  HISTORY. 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  225 


Louis  NEWSTADT  v.  ALVIN  ADAMS  and  others. 

In  an  action  against  the  carriers  of  goods  by  express,  to  recover 
the  value  of  a  diamond  pin,  received  at  New  York,  to  be  de 
livered  at  Philadelphia,  the  fact  that  the  complaint  states  a  de 
livery  to  the  carriers  at  59  Broadway,  while  the  proof  is  of  a  de 
livery  at  an  office  in  Canal  Street,  is  no  obstacle  to  a  recovery. 
The  variance  is  immaterial.  So  is  the  omission  to  state,  as  a 
part  of  the  carrier's  contract,  that  he  was  not  to  be  liable  for 
any  loss  or  damage,  unless  proved  to  have  occurred  from  his 
fraud  or  gross  negligence.  In  such  a  case,  proof  of  the  deliv 
ery  and  acceptance  of  the  goods  to  be  carried,  of  a  demand  of 
them  at  a  proper  time  and  place,  and  of  a  refusal  to  deliver 
them,  without  explanation,  is  sufficient,  in  the  first  instance,  to 
entitle  the  plaintiff  to  recover. 

It  is  only  when  an  actual  loss  is  shown,  that  a  plaintiff,  under  such 
a  contract,  is  bound  to  prove  that  the  fraud  or  gross  negligence 
of  the  carrier  caused  the  loss.  When  the  contract  limits  the 
liability  to  $150,  unless  the  Mature  and  value  of  the  property 
are  disclosed  when  delivered,  to  the  carrier,  the  plaintiff,  prima 
facie,  cannot  recover  beyond  that  sum,  though  the  property  is 
clearly  proved  to  be  worth  more. 

(Before  DUER,  BOSWORTH  and  SLOSSON,  J.J.) 
October  1,  1855. 

This  action  was  tried  before  Ch.  J.  Oakley,  and 
a  jury,  on  the  19th  of  March,  1856.  A  verdict  was 
taken  for  the  plaintiff  by  direction  of  the  judge, 
for  the  sum  of  $175,  subject  to  the  opinion  of  the 
court,  at  general  term,  upon  a  case,  with  power  to 
the  court  to  reduce  the  verdict  to  $150,  should  it 
think  proper. 

The  defendants  were  partners,  carrying  on  the 
Express  and  Forwarding  business  between  New 
York  and  Philadelphia.  The  complaint  alleges  that 
on  the  10th  of  December,  1854,  a  box  was  deliver- 

15 


226  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

ed  to  the  agent  of  the  defendants,  at  their  office, 
No.  59  Broadway,  in  New  York,  to  be  delivered  to 
the  plaintiff,  in  Philadelphia,  to  whom  it  was  direct 
ed.  A  receipt  was  given,  signed  by  one  Griffin, 
the  agent.  The  box  contained  a  diamond  ring  of 
the  value  of  $175.  The  box  was  a  small  flat  one, 
about  two  and  a  half  inches  long,  made  of  paper, 
and  had  paper  around  it.  It  was  delivered  at  what 
was  alleged  to  be  an  office  of  the  defendants,  in 
Canal  Street.  A  receipt  was  given  at  the  time, 
which  is  in  the  following  form: 

ADAMS  &  CO.'S 

GREAT    EASTERN,   WESTERN    AND    SOUTHERN    PACKAGE    EXPRESS. 

NEW  YORK,  October  IGth,  1854. 

^  Received  of  EMILIA  NEWSTADT,  in  apparent  good  order,  to 
^  be  transported  by  our  Express  Lines,  the  undersigned  arti- 
'g  cles,  marked  as  per  margin,  which  we  promise  to  deliver  in 
like  order,  subject  to  the  agreement  now  made,  and  hereafter 
expressed,  to  Louis  Newstadt,  at  Philadelphia,  Pa.  It  is 
agreed,  and  is  part  of  the  consideration  of  this  contract,  that 
0  we  are  not  to  be  responsible  for  any  loss  or  damage,  arising 
^  from  the  dangers  of  railroad,  steam,  or  river  navigation, 
leakage,  fire,  or  from  any  cause  whatever,  unless  the  same  be 
proved  to  have  occurred  from  the  fraud  or  gross  negligence 
of  ourselves,  our  agents  or  servants,  and  we  are  in  no  event 
to  be  liable  beyond  our  route,  as  herein  receipted.  Valued 


under  $150,  unless  herein  otherwise  stated. 
Freight  to 


MARKS. 


Louis  Newstadt,  Philadelphia, 
Pa.     To  be  called  for. 


PACKAGES. 


Little  box,  to  be  left  at  Adams' 
Express:  for  the  proprietor. 
GRIFFIN. 


Griffin,  who  signed  the  receipt,  was  an  agent  of 
the  defendants.  They  had  an  office  in  Canal  Street, 
where  articles  were  received,  and  from  which  they 
were  taken  to  the  office,  59  Broadway.  This  was 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  227 

for  the  accommodation  of  up-town  people,  arid  pack 
ages  were  received  there  when  the  goods  were  of 
small  value.  The  agent's  orders  were,  not  to  take 
articles  at  that  office  of  over  the  value  of  $150.  nor 
any  money.  He  was  authorized  to  sign  receipts  of 
the  character  of  that  produced,  for  packages  of 
small  value  to  go  to  the  lower  office.  Nothing  was 
paid  to  Griffin,  the  agent,  at  the  time,  for  carrying 
and  delivering  the  package,  or  agreed  to  be  paid. 
Nothing  was  said  at  the  time  of  the  value  of  the 
box.  The  agent  states  he  would  not  have  taken  it 
if  apprised  of  its  value.  He  supposed  from  its  ap 
pearance  it  was  not  valuable,  and  did  not  make  any 
inquiry  as  to  it.  It  was  the  custom  to  receive 
packages  at  the  office  in  Canal  Street,  and  send 
them  by  the  drivers  to  that  in  Broadway. 

The  defendants,  when  the  plaintiff's  testimony 
was  closed,  moved  for  the  dismissal  of  the  complaint, 
on  the  ground  that  no  delivery  of  the  box,  as  al 
leged  in  the  complaint,  had  been  proved;  and  that 
there  was  no  proof  of  compensation  or  hire  for  car 
rying  the  box,  paid  or  agreed  to  be  paid  by  the 
plaintiff  to  defendants;  that  the  complaint  did  not 
allege  the  defendants  to  be  common  carriers,  and 
that  no  negligence  had  been  shown  on  the  part  of 
the  defendants. 

The  Chief  Justice  refused  the  motion,  and  the 
defendants7  counsel  excepted. 

The  defendants  offering  no  evidence,  a  verdict 
was  directed,  as  before  stated. 

The  other  facts  sufficiently  appear  in  the  opin 
ion  of  the  court. 

L.  S.  Ashley,  for  plaintiff. 
/.  G.  Vuse,  for  defendants. 


228  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

BY  THE  COURT.  BOSWORTH,  J. — The  complaint 
states,  and  the  answer  does  not  deny,  and  there 
fore  admits,  that  the  defendants  were  partners,  and 
as  such  were  "  carrying  on  the  express  and  for 
warding  business  between  the  cities  of  New  York 
and  Philadelphia. "  They  were  common  carriers. 

When  they  took  goods  in  the  ordinary  course  of 
their  business,  to  be  carried  from  one  of  those  cities 
to  the  other,  in  the  absence  of  any  special  contract, 
the  implication  of  law  would  be,  that  the  defend 
ants  were  to  be  paid  the  usual  and  customary  com 
pensation. 

If  the  defendants  received  the  goods  and  under 
took  to  carry  them,  although  they  were  paid  noth 
ing,  nor  promised  anything  for  doing  it.  they  would 
be  bound  to  use,  at  the  least,  as  much  care  and 
skill  as  they  stipulated  for  in  the  written  contract. 

The  fact  that  they  were  delivered  to  the  defend 
ants  at  Canal  Street,  instead  of  Broadway,  is  a  va 
riance  which  the  court  is  required  by  section  169 
of  the 'Code  to  disregard. 

The  objection  that  the  legal  effect  of  the  contract 
proved,  varied  from  that  described  in  the  complaint, 
does  not  appear  to  have  been  taken  at  the  trial. 
Neither  was  the  objection  taken  that  the  complaint 
did  not  allege  any  fraud  or  gross  negligence  of  the 
defendants.  It  is  too  late  to  take  such  objections 
now.  (  Barnes  v.  Ferine,  2  Kern  an,  24,  25.) 

The  objection  taken  was,  that  no  negligence  had 
been  proved.  Proof  of  a  delivery  and  acceptance 
of  the  goods  to  be  carried,  and  of  a  demand  of  the 
goods  and  non-compliance  with  it,  without  any  ex 
planation  or  apology,  was  sufficient  proof  of  fraud 
or  gross  negligence,  until  some  evidence  of  care  or 
fidelity  had  been  given  by  the  defendants. 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  229 

As  the  case  presents  the  facts,  the  defendants 
received  the  goods  and  undertook  to  carry  them. 
They  stipulated  that  they  should  not  be  charged  for 
any  loss  or  damage  unless  caused  by  fraud  or  gross 
negligence,  and  that  the  plaintiff  should  be  requir 
ed  to  prove  fraud  or  such  negligence  in  order  to  be 
entitled  to  recover.  The  defendants,  if  made  liable, 
agreed  to  pay  whatever  might  be  shown  to  be  the 
value  of  the  property;  such  value,  at  all  events,  to 
be  deemed  less  than  $150.  The  plaintiff  has  de 
manded  the  goods  at  the  place  at  which  the  de 
fendants  have  agreed  to  deliver  them;  and  they 
have  not  complied  with  the  demand,  nor  assigned 
any  reason  or  excuse  for  their  failure  to  do  so. 

If  the  contract  had  been  set  out  according  to  its 
legal  effect,  as  evidenced  by  the  paper  signed  by 
Griffin,  no  other  proof  of  fraud  or  gross  negligence 
could  well  have  been  given,  than  such  as  was  fur 
nished  in  this  case. 

When  the  defendants  admit,  or  it  is  proved,  that 
they  took  the  goods,  and  agreed  to  carry  and  de 
liver  them  at  a  place  named,  and  they  admit  that 
they  did  not  carry  and  deliver  them  there — and  the 
only  question  is,  whether  their  default  results  from 
fraud  or  misconduct;  if  it  appears  that  the  plaintiff 
called  at  the  proper  place  and  demanded  his  goods, 
and  the  defendants  refused  to  deliver  them,  without 
explaining  or  apologising  for  their  conduce,  the 
plaintiff  would  seem  to  have  given  all  the  evidence 
of  fraud  or  negligence  that  should  be  required  in 
the  first  instance. 

Frankness  and  good  faith  require  that  carriers, 
under  such  circumstances,  should  give  some  expla 
nation  of  their  conduct.  It  is  known  to  themselves, 
and  cannot  be  presumed  to  be  known  to  the  plaint- 


230  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

iff  It  is  easy  for  them  to  state  the  cause  of  the 
loss  or  injury,  and  thus  enable  a  plaintiff  to  exam 
ine  into  the  truth  of  their  statements. 

But  when  they  refuse  to  deliver  the  goods,  and 
fail  to  suggest  any  ground  for  such  refusal,  or  to 
give  any  explanation  of  their  conduct,  I  think  a 
plaintiff  has  proved  enough,  unexplained,  to  make 
a  prwui  facie  case  of  fraud  or  gross  negligence. 
(Bcarddce  v.  Richardson,  11  Wendell,  25;  Angel  & 
Ames  on  Carriers,  §  38,  n.  4,  ed.  of  1851.) 

The  defendants  did  not  object  that  they  were  not 
required  by  the  pleadings  to  come  prepared  to  try 
the  question  whether  their  conduct  had  been  fraud 
ulent  or  grossly  negligent;  but  the  objection  was, 
that  no  evidence  of  such  conduct  had  been  given. 

The  main  question  was,  whether  the  defendants 
had  undertaken  to  carry  and  deliver  the  goods,  and 
had  broken  their  contract. 

They  did  agree  to  carry  and  deliver;  but  the 
evidence  disclosed  that  this  agreement  was  subject 
to  the  further  agreement,  that  the  plaintiff  should 
have  no  claim  on  them  for  loss  or  damage,  unless 
he  proved  that  such  loss  or  damage  was  caused  by 
their  fraud  or  gross  negligence. 

The  plaintiff  gave  all  the  proof  that  this  condi 
tion  required.  If  the  defendants  had  objected  that 
the  complaint  contained  no  averment  of  fraud  or 
gross  negligence,  the  court  might  have  ordered  an 
amendment  at  the  trial. 

All  that  the  complaint  alleged  was  proved.  The 
most  that  can  be  said  is,  that  the  agreement  pro 
duced  required  the  plaintiff  to  prove  more,  in  order 
to  recover,  than  he  had  averred.  To  this  it  may 
be  answered,  that  such  proof  was  given.  The  de 
fendant  did  not  object  that  the  plaintiff  could  not 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  231 

give  the  proof  because  he  had  not  alleged  the  fact, 
but  that  he  had  failed  to  give  the  necessary  proof. 
If  he  was  mistaken  as  to  the  effect  of  the  evidence, 
as  we  think  he  was,  the  objection  made  is  untena 
ble.  There  are  no  variances  between  the  pleadings 
and  proofs,  which  should  not,  under  the  circum 
stances,  be  disregarded.  (Code,  §§  169  and  170. 
2  Kernan,  24-25.) 

There  is  another  consideration  which  is  fatal  to 
the  defence.  The  complaint  does  not  allege,  nor 
was  there  any  evidence  tending  to  show,  that  the 
package  was  actually  lost.  The  complaint  states 
that  the  defendants  received  the  package,  and  un 
dertook  to  carry  it  and  to  deliver  it  at  Philadelphia. 
That  a  delivery  has  been  demanded  there,  and  at 
the  office  of  the  defendants  in  New  York,  and  that 
they  have  wholly  neglected  and  refused,  and  still 
refuse  to  deliver  it. 

To  make  the  qualifying  clause  of  the  contract 
available  to  the  defendants,  after  the  plaintiff  had 
proved  the  case  stated  in  the  complaint,  it  was  in 
cumbent  on  the  defendants  to  give  evidence  tend 
ing  to  show  that  it  was  lost,  or  that  they  were  not 
able  to  deliver  it,  in  consequence  of  its  destruction, 
or  of  its  being  placed  beyond  their  control  by  some 
casualty  arising  "from  the  dangers  of  railroad, 
steam,  or  river  navigation,  leakage,  fire,  or  some 
other  cause." 

Then  it  would  be  the  duty  of  the  plaintiff  to  show 
that  the  cause  of  the  loss,  destruction,  or  other  dis 
ability  of  the  defendants  to  deliver,  occurred  from 
the  "fraud  or  gross  negligence  of  the  defendants, 
their  agents  or  servants.7' 

But  it  cannot  be  pretended  that  the  plaintiff  can 
not  recover,  for  a  refusal  to  deliver  the  article,  if 


232  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

the  defendants  have  the  power  to  deliver  it.  Nei 
ther  the  complaint  nor  the  answer  alleges  a  loss 
of  the  package,  nor  any  inability  of  the  defendants 
to  deliver  it. 

It  was  not  suggested  on  the  trial  that  it  had  been 
actually  lost. 

The  concluding  part  of  the  contract  is  inopera 
tive,  except  in  case  of  an  actual  loss  of  the  pack 
age.  When  the  proof  shows  a  loss  of  it,  that  an 
swers  the  plain  tiffs  claim,  until  he  gives  proof  that 
the  loss  resulted  from  fraud  or  gross  negligence. 

As  the  case  is  presented  to  us,  it  is  simply  a  case 
of  a  refusal  to  comply  with  a  demand,  made  in  due 
form,  at  the  proper  place,  to  deliver  the  package. 
The  refusal  is  not  accompanied  by  any  explanation. 
No  suggestion  was  made  that  it  was  lost.  The 
case,  therefore,  as  far  as  the  rights  and  liabilities 
of  the  parties  to  this  action  are  concerned,  is  the 
same  as  if  this  qualifying  clause  was  out  of  the 
contract.  There  is  nothing  in  the  facts  of  the  case 
on  which  it  can  operate.  (Hearn  v.  The  London 
and  South- Western  Railway  Co.,  29  Eng.  L.  and  Eq. 
R.,  494.) 

There  must  be  a  judgment  for  the  plaintiff;  but, 
as  the  value  of  the  property  was  not  disclosed,  the 
verdict  must  be  reduced  to  $149.99. 

Judgment  accordingly  for  plaintiff,  with  costs. 

SWEET  &  FAULKNER  v.  BARNEY,  President  of  th 
United  States  Express  Gompany. 

Prima  fade,  a  person  receiving  money  is  entitled  to  it,  and  does 
not  become  a  debtor  to  the  person  delivering  it.  Some  evidence 
in  explanation  of  the  transaction  is  necessary,  to  establish  a  lia 
bility  by  the  receipt  of  the  money. 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  233 

Hence,  a  bank  in  the  city  to  which  a  package  of  money  is  sent  by 
bankers  in  the  country,  b^l  Express,  being  considered  the  owner 
of  the  money,  may  authorize  the  same  to  be  delivered  at  the  of 
fice  of  the  Express  Company,  or  at  any  other  place  in  the  city, 
to  any  person  it  may  select ;  and  the  Express  Company,  on  mak 
ing  such  a  delivery,  will  be  discharged  of  their  obligation  in  re 
spect  to  the  delivery,  whether  their  obligation  be  that  of  common 
carriers  or  of  forwarders  only. 

The  substance  and  spirit  of  what  the  persons  sending  the  money, 
under  such  circumstances,  exact,  and  the  Express  Company  un 
dertake,  in  regard  to  a  delivery,  is,  that  there  shall  be  such  a 
delivery  in  the. city  as  will  charge  the  bank  there  with  the  re 
ceipt  of  the  money,  as  between  it  and  the  persons  sending  it. 

Where  a  package  of  money  thus  sent  is  directed  to  a  bank  in  the 
City  of  New  York,  at  its  usual  place  of  business,  it  is  the  duty  of 
the  Express  Company — in  the  absence  of  any  authority  from  the 
bank  for  a  different  mode  of  delivery — to  deliver  the  package  at 
the  banking  office,  to  the  officer  or  clerk  whose  business  it  is  to 
receive  money  for  the  bank. 

And  if  it  appears  that  it  is  the  usual  course  of  business  of  the  Ex 
press  Company  to  deliver  money  packages  according  to  their 
address,  it  will  be  assumed  that  any  particular  package  was  de 
livered  to  and  received  by  the  Company  in  any  reference  to  that 
practice,  where  there  is  no  express  contract  in  regard  to  the 
place  of  delivery,  or  the  officer  or  person  to  whem  the  delivery 
shall  be  made. 

In  case  of  a  package  of  money  sent  by  country  bankers  to  a  bank 
in  the  City  of  New  York,  directed  to  it  at  its  place  of  business, 
only  a  delivery  at  the  office,  to  the  proper  officer  of  the  bank, 
will  be  a  delivery  according  to  the  address  on  the  package,  or 
which  will  charge  the  bank  with  the  money. 

But  a  delivery  at  the  banking  office  to  the  general  receiving  agent, 
being  for  the  benefit  of  the  bank  alone,  the  bank  may  waive  the 
same,  and  receive  the  money  at  a  different  place  in  the  city,  and 
by  a  different  agent,  and  the  Express  Company  be  thereby  dis 
charged  from  liability. 
15* 


234  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

The  delivery  of  the  money  by  the  Express  Company,  at  their  of 
fice,  to  a  person  usually  employed  as  a  porter  at  the  bank,  being 
insufficient,  unless  it  was  authorized  by  the  bank,  it  is  incumbent 
on  the  Company,  for  their  defense,  to  prove  such  authority. 
This  may  be  direct  and  express,  or  implied  from  the  acts  of  the 
porter,  such  as  receiving  money  for  the  bank,  on  other  occasions, 
at  the  Express  office,  sent  to  it  in  a  similar  way  and  with  a  sim 
ilar  address  as  that  in  question,  with  the  knowledge  and  assent 
of  the  bank. 

APPEAL  from  a  judgment  entered  at  a  special 
term,  after  a  trial  at  the  circuit.  In  November, 
1854,  the  plaintiffs,  being  bankers  in  Livingston 
County,  sent  by  the  United  States  Express  Compa 
ny,  of  which  the  defendant  was  president,  a  sealed 
package  of  bank  bills,  directed  on  the  cover  to 
"  People's  Bank,  173  Canal  Street,  New  York.77 
The  agent  of  the  Express  Company,  on  receiving 
the  package  in  Livingston  County,  gave  the  follow 
ing  receipt: 

"United  States  Express  Company, 

"  Office,  No.  82  Broadway,  New  York, 

"Nov.  18,  1854. 

"  S.  Sweet  &  Co.  have  delivered  to  us  one  package 
money,  marked  as  follows:  'People's  Bank,  173  Ca 
nal  Street,  N.  Y.,7  and  said  to  contain  twenty- eight 
hundred  and  ninety-two  dollars,  which  we  under 
take  to  forward  to  New  York,  or  to  the  nearest 
agency  of  this  Company  only,  perils  of  navigation 
excepted.  And  it  is  hereby  expressly  agreed  that 
said  United  States  Express  Company  are  not  to  be 
held  liable  for  any  loss  or  damage,  except  as  for 
warders  only;  nor  for  any  loss  or  damage  of  any 
box,  package  or  thing,  for  over  $150,  unless  the 
just  and  true  value  thereof  is  herein  stated;  nor  for 


KX  P  Ul,    ,,       I!  I  H  TORY  . 


any  loss  or  damage  by  fire;  nor  upon  any  properly 

or  tiling  unless  properly  packed  and  secured  for 
transportation;  nor  upon  IV.  ill  l;i  IH-M-;:,  nnlc:..;  ;:o 
niiirked  upon  the  package  i-onhnnm;^  the  ;  ;mi<-;  nor 
upon  any  fabric,  .  consisting  of  oc  contained  in  glass. 

"For  the  proprietors,      W.  W.  FINCH,  Agt. 


This  action  was  brought  to  recover  damages  for 

the  non-delivery  of  Ihc  package.      Tin-    answer   ad- 

nii!lc<|    (he     receipt    of    ;i,     p;ick;|0'(-    from     S.    Sweet    jV- 

Co.,  directed  to  the.  " People's  Bank,  173  Canal 
Street,  New  York,"  on  the  day  aforesaid,  but  de- 

nied  ;iny   knovvled;.M-  or  inlorin;!.!  ion  of  il.s  contcntH, 

and  put  in  issue  the  residue  offlx  complaint.     The 

defense  set  up  in  the  suiswcr  was,  in  substance,  1. 
That  the  de|ciid;in!  wen;  not  common  <-;inicfs,  but 
Iv-:pre;.  (orwnrder.s;  !h;i!  Iheir  undertaking  WJI.M 

evidenced  by  tbc  receipt,  delivered  by  them  at  the 

time  of  receiving  the  psMtk:io;e;  that  KU«-h  psiper  cre- 
a.t(;d  ;in  ohli;si.tion  only  to  Inmsport  to  New  York, 
which  vvii,-:  done,  but  not  to  deliver  (he  same  at  the, 
bank,  01-  to  the  olliceiv:  LlHJreof,  :md  averred  a  de 
livery.  The  Can  <•  Came  on  lor  trial  ;ii  I  he  Liv- 

ingfton  circuit,  before  M,-.  .1,,  tice  JOHKSOI  ,  and  a 

jury,  on    the    lH.li    of  ()c,fob(;f,    18.r,r,.      The    plaintifl 

prove.d   the  !•'•••<•  ipt    of   111-  ••    by  the    defend 

ants;  that  it  contained  b;mk  aote  •  that  the  phunf- 
iff    hud  not  rec(;iv(id    the   pnr.l^i^e   or  the    proceeds 
thereof.       If  vva:-;  ;il.~:o  j*rove.d  tlni.l   the  K    j 
p;i,ny  forvvji.rde.rl   the  package  to  their  ollice  in    New 

York.  On  its  arfivji.1,  Con  :^)i h  November,)  a  per 
son  luimed  Me.K;-;e.n^er,  in  the  employ  of  the  I'e.o- 

p]<-.;.   Bank,  cjilled  for  it,  received  it  there,  and  gave 

a  receipt  for  it  in  the  book  of   fh«-  Company.      The 


236  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

book  showed  that  he  had  thus  received  and  receipt* * 
ed  for  the  bank  every  package  directed  to  it,  and 
carried  by  the  Company  during  that  month;  this 
being  the  tenth  in  number.  It  was  further  shown 
that  this  Messenger  had  received  for  the  six  previ 
ous  months  more  than  half  of  the  packages  intend 
ed  for  the  bank;  that  this  mode  of  delivery  to  him 
was  adopted  at  the  request  of  the  officers  of  the 
bank;  that  it  was  for  their  accommodation,  and  not 
for  that  of  the  Express  Company;  that  packages  so 
delivered  had  been  regularly  credited  by  the  bank, 
and  no  exception  taken.  This  package  thus  deliv 
ered  to  Messenger  was  stolen  from  him  before  he 
got  to  the  banking  house.  The  bank  then,/0r  the 
first  time,  disowned  the  agency  of  Messenger,  and 
indemnified  the  plaintiffs. 

The  counsel  for  the  defendants  offered  to  show 
that  John  J.  Messenger  was  in  the  habit  of  receiv 
ing  from  the  defendants  packages  of  money  ad 
dressed  to  the  bank,  and  did  such  other  acts  out  of 
the  bank;  that  a  delivery  to  him  at  places  other 
than  at  the  bank  was  a  good  delivery  to  the  bank. 
The  counsel  for  the  plaintiffs  objected  to  any  evi 
dence  of  the  acts  of  Messenger  at  places  other  than 
at  the  bank,  or  of  a  delivery  to  him  at  such  places, 
by  the  defendants,  of  packages  of  money  addressed 
to  the  bank  as  a  delivery  to  the  bank,  unless  they 
showed  it  was  with  the  knowledge  and  authority  of 
the  bank.  The  court  overruled  the  objection,  and 
held  that  the  defendants  could  show  the  nature  and 
character  of  Messenger's  employment  and  acts  for 
the  bank  outside  the  banking  house;  and  could  in 
this  connection  show  the  delivery  by  the  defend 
ants  to  Messenger  at  places  other  than  at  the  bank 
ing  house  at  No.  173  Canal  Street,  at  different 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  237 

times,  of  packages  of  money  addressed  to  the  Peo 
ple's  Bank,  173  Canal  Street,  and  which  afterwards 
came  into  the  possession  of  the  bank,  and  were 
treated  by  it  as  regularly  received  and  delivered; 
and  it  would  be  a  question  of  fact  for  the  jury  to 
determine  on  such  evidence  whether  the  same  was 
with  the  knowledge  and  authority  of  the  bank,  and 
if  so,  it  was  a  good  delivery  to  the  bank;  to  which 
rulings  of  his  honor  the  judge,  the  counsel  for  the 
plaintiffs  excepted. 

At  the  close  of  the  testimony,  the  jury  brought 
in  a  verdict  for  the  defendants. 

/.  W.  Gilbert,  for  the  appellants. 
0.  Hastings,  for  the  respondents. 

By  the  Court,  T.  R.  STRONG,  J.  The  plaintiffs 
were  bankers  at  Dansville;  and  the  People's  Bank, 
to  which  the  package  of  money  was  addressed,  was 
the  corresponding  bank  of  the  plaintiffs  in  the  City  of 
New  York.  The  package  was  delivered  to  the  de 
fendants,  as  expressed  in  the  receipt,  "to  forward  to 
New  York;"  and  the  legal  inference  from  this  rela 
tion  between  the  plaintiffs  and  the  People's  Bank, 
and  the  sending  of  the  money,  in  the  absence  of 
other  evidence  on  the  subject,  is  that  the  money  was 
sent  as  a  payment,  either  upon  a  pre-existing  debt 
to,  or  to  purchase  a  credit  at  that  bank,  as  a  pro 
vision  for  drafts.  Prima  facie,  a  person  receiving 
money  is  entitled  to  it,  and  does  not  become  a  debt 
or  to  the  person  delivering  it;  some  evidence  in 
explanation  of  the  transaction  is  necessary,  to 
establish  a  liability  by  the  receipt  of  the  money. 
( Welch  v.  Seaborn,  1  Stark.  R.  474.  Bogert  v.  Morse, 
1  Comst.  377.)  In  that  view  the  People's  Bank,  on 
the  receipt  of  the  money,  would  be  the  owners 


238  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

of  it;  and  no  good  reason  is  perceived  why  the 
bank  might  not  authorize  a  delivery  of  the  money 
at  the  office  of  the  defendants  in  New  York  to  any 
person  it  might  select;  and  the  defendants,  on 
making  such  a  delivery, '  be  discharged  of  their 
obligation  in  respect  to  the  delivery,  whether  their 
obligation  was  that  of  common  carriers,  or,  as 
stipulated  in  the  receipt,  "forwarders  only."  The 
substance  and  spirit  of  what  the  plaintiffs  exacted, 
and  the  defendants  undertook,  in  regard  to  a  de 
livery,  was  that  there  should  be  such  a  delivery  in 
New  York  as  would  charge  the  bank  there  with  the 
receipt  of  the  money  as  between  it  and  the  plaintiffs. 
The  plaintiffs  were  only  interested  that  there  should 
be  such  a  delivery;  that  the  purpose  of  a  payment 
or  purchase  of  credit  should  be  effected;  beyond 
that  the  bank  was  solely  interested,  and  might,  with 
the  defendants'  consent,  direct  on  the  subject  as  it 
should  think  proper.  It  might  with  such  consent 
direct  the  defendants  to  deliver  to  any  person,  at 
any  store  or  place  in  the  city  other  than  its  prin 
cipal  office  or  place  of  business,  having  regard  to  its 
own  interests  or  convenience,  or  even  the  conven 
ience  of  the  defendants. 

Independent  of  authority  from  the  People's  Bank 
for  a  different  mode  of  delivery,  it  was  doubtless 
necessary  in  this  case  to  deliver  the  money  at  the 
banking  office,  to  the  officer  or  clerk  whose  business 
it  was  to  receive  money  for  the  bank.  The  course 
of  business  of  the  defendants  was  to  deliver  money 
packages  for  that  city  according  to  their  address, 
and  it  must  be  assumed  that  the  one  in  question 
was  delivered  to  and  received  by  the  defendants  in 
reference  to  that  practice,  there  being  no  express 
contract  in  regard  to  the  place  of  delivery,  or  the 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  239 

officer  or  person  to  whom  the  delivery  should  be 
niade.  The  legal  duty  of  the  defendants  was  there 
fore  to  deliver  according  to  their  usual  course  of 
business;  and  so  far  as  there  was  any  implied  con 
tract,  it  arose  out  of  and  corresponded  with  this 
legal  obligation.  Only  a  delivery  at  the  office,  to 
the  proper  officer  of  the  bank,  would  be  a  delivery 
according  to  the  address  on  the  package,  or  which 
would  charge  the  bank  with  the  money.  But,  as 
already  stated,  I  think  the  bank  might  receive  the 
money  at  a  different  place  in  the  city,  and  by  a  dif 
ferent  agent,  and  the  defendants  be  thereby  dis 
charged  from  liability.  A  delivery  at  the  banking 
office,  to  the  general  receiving  agent,  was  for  the 
benefit  of  the  bank  alone,  which  the  bank  might 
waive,  and  substitute  another  place  and  agent. 
Any  mode  of  delivery  in  New  York,  consistent  with 
the  object  and  intent  of  the  plaintiffs  in  sending  the 
money,  assented  to  by  the  bank,  would  discharge 
the  duty  of  the  defendants  as  to  a  delivery  of  the 
money. 

The  delivery  of  the  money  by  the  defendants  at 
their  office  in  New  York,  to  a  person  usually  em 
ployed  as  a  porter  of  the  People's  Bank,  being  in 
sufficient  unless  it  was  authorized  by  the  bank,  it 
was  incumbent  on  the  defendants  for  their  defense 
to  prove  such  authority.  The  authority  might  be 
direct  and  express,  or  implied  from  the  acts  of  the 
person  who  received  the  money,  such  as  receiving 
money  for  the  bank  on  other  occasions,  at  the  de 
fendants'  office,  sent  to  it  in  a  similar  way  and  with 
a  similar  address  as  that  in  question,  acquiesced  in 
by  the  bank.  (Conover  v.  Mut.  Ins.  Co.,  I  Comst. 
290.  Story  on  Ag.  §§  54  to  56,  84  to  123.)  In  the 
present  case  the  defendants  relied,  in  support  of 


240  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

such  authority,  upon  presumptive  evidence,  con 
sisting  of  a  series  of  similar  acts  by  the  alleged 
agent,  without,  so  far  as  appears,  any  objection,  or 
even  inquiries  by  the  bank  at  any  time,  where  the 
money  was  received.  Looking  at  the  charge  to  the 
jury  in  connection  with  the  questions  of  evidence 
raised,  I  think  the  plaintiffs  have  no  substantial 
ground  for  complaint  as  to  the  reception  of  evi 
dence  on  that  subject;  and  I  am  satisfied  there  was- 
sufficient  evidence  of  such  acts  as  above  referred  to r 
and  the  knowledge  of  and  acquiescence  therein  by 
the  bank,  to  call  for  the  submission  of  the  question 
of  agency  to  the  jury.  As  to  such  knowledge  by 
the  bank,  it  must  have  been  possessed  by  it,  unless 
its  officers  were  guilty  of  the  grossest  negligence  in 
omitting  to  inquire  how  the  money  was  received; 
and  if  they  knew  it  was  delivered  at  the  defendants7 
office  for  them,  they  must,  in  the  absence  of  evi 
dence  that  they  objected,  be  deemed  to  have  assent 
ed  to  the  practice  of  the  defendants  to  make  such 
a  delivery. 

I  see  no  error  in  the  charge  or  refusals  to  charge, 
and  am  of  opinion  the  judgment  should  be  affirmed. 

NOTE. — The  foregoing  reports  of  Judicial  Decisions  are  extract 
ed  from  the  following  named  law  books,  for  sale  by  Halsted  &  Co., 
Law  Booksellers,  No.  1  Nassau  Street,  New  York.  Russell  & 
Annis  v.  Livingston  &  Wells,  vide  Smith's  New  York  Reports, 
Court  of  Appeals,  vol.  2,  p.  515.  Holford  v.  Adams  &  Co.,  vide 
Duer's  Reports,  New  York  Superior  Court,  vol.  2,  p.  471.  Louis 
Newstadt  v.  Alvin  Adams  and  others,  vide  Duer's  Reports,  New 
York  Superior  Court,  vol.  5,  p.  43.  Sweet  &  Faulkner  v.  Bar 
ney,  vide  Barbour's  Reports,  New  York  Supreme  Court,  vol.  24, 
p.  533. 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  241 


SYMBOLS. 

The  symbol  long  adopted  by  the  American  Ex 
press  Company  was  the  picture  of  a  dog  guard-  j 
ing  a  safe.  Their  new  building  upon  Hudson' 
Street  is  adorned  with  a  fine  bas-relief  of  that  ap 
propriate  emblem  of  care  and  fidelity,  sculptured 
in  marble.  It  conveys  a  good  lesson  to  Express 
agents  and  messengers,  though  intended  mainly,  I 
presume,  as  a  figurative  assurance  to  the  public. 
A  symbol  less  felicitous,  used  by  an  Express  mana 
ger  for  a  year  or  two,  to  our  own  knowledge,  was 
a  greyhound  running  at  full  speed — intended  prob 
ably  to  indicate  dispatch.  Unfortunately  for  his 
customers  it  obtained  at  length  a  more  pregnant 
significance,  for  the  manager  himself  ran  away.  It 
only  wanted  a  sack  of  gold  on  the  back  of  the 
"  hound,"  to  render  the  picture  perfect. 

"Speaking  of  guns,"  another  Express  emblem, 
which  we  have  seen  somewhere,  is  a  deer,  going  at 
the  rate  of  1.20,  to  signify  speed.  It  had  too 
much  the  look  of  a  fugitive.  The  ancient  mytho 
logical  figure  of  Mercury,  with  wings  to  his  heels 
and  head,  has  been  used,  time  out  of  mind,  as  a 
symbol  of  swift  messengers;  but  as  Mercury  was 
the  god  of  thieves,  it  applies  more  appropriately  to 
carriers  who  live  fast;  for  how  can  they,  with  their 
limited  salaries,  indulge  in  any  superfluities  without 
stealing? 

The  carrier- dove  is  not  much  better,  for  it  is  a 

16 


242  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

very  uncertain  and  insecure  messenger.  Harnden's 
emblem  upon  a  circular  advertising  the  first  Express 
between  the  New  World  and  the  Old,  was  a 
vignette  representing  the  two  hemispheres,  with 
himself  striding  from  one  to  the  other — one  foot 
being  on  the  American  shore,  and  the  other  on 
"the  chalky  cliffs  of  Albion ;"  while  upon  his  back 
he  carried  a  bag  of  newspapers,  letters,  &c.  If 
in  spanning  the  ocean,  in  that  figurative  way,  it 
ever  occurred  to  the  fruitful  brain  of  Harnden  that 
a  suspension  bridge  might  at  some  future  day  serve 
the  same  purpose,  he  wisely  kept  the  crotchet  to 
himself.  Still,  so  "  wild "  a  notion  would  not  have 
been  stigmatized  as  any  more  insane,  in  the  days 
of  the  original  Expressman,  than  a  project  to  send 
telegraphic  messages  under  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  as 
is  now  done  "under  Providence,"  from  Trinity  Bay, 
N.  F.,  to  Yalentia  Bay,  Ireland.  Since  the  laying 
of  the  Atlantic  Cable  by  Field,  Hudson,  Cooper, 
and  their  enterprising  associates  in  England  and 
America,  (whom  the  world  now  delights  to  honor,) 
I  confess  to  have  so  lost  the  faculty  of  wonder,  that 
if  the  builder  of  the  Suspension  Bridge  at  Niagara 
should  seriously  propose  to  bridge  the  Atlantic 
Ocean,  I  might  suggest  to  those  who  should  travel 
over  it  when  finished,  the  precaution  to  carry 
water-proof  clothing  for  use  when  "the  seas  run 
mountains  high,"  but  I  should  neither  laugh  nor 
scout  at  the  "fine  audacity"  of  the  projector. 
The  Atlantic  Telegraph  marvel — celebrated  by 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  243 

600,000  people  in  the  streets  of  this  city,  Septem 
ber  1,  1858,  with  every  imaginable  display  to  its 
honor — has  taught  many  a  skeptic  a  wholesome 
lesson.  Seeing  mere  human  creatures  accomplish 
such  mighty  results,  they  are  willing  to  believe 
that  the  miracles  performed  by  God,  through  the 
medium  of  the  Savior  of  men,  were  something  more 
than — as  a  popular  infidel  preacher  and  writer  has 
asserted — mere  allegories  and  parables. 

The  construction  of  railways,. the  origin  and  ex- 
tension  of  Express  routes,  the  creation  of  Ocean 
Steamship  lines,  the  discovery  and  operation  of 
Morse's  Magnetic  Telegraph,  the  construction  by 
Butterfield,  Dinsmore,  Fargo,  Spencer,  and  other 
Expressmen,  of  an  Overland  Mail  Stage  Road, 
through  vast  mountain  ranges  and  desert  plains  to 
California,  now  succeeded  by  this  grandest  of  all, 
human  works,  the  union  of  America  and  Europe] 
by  Telegraph,  put  all  emblems  at  defiance.  For 
merly  symbols  were  made  use  of  to  convey  a  more 
exalted  idea  of  the  thing  referred  to,  but  they  have 
no  power  to  enhance  the  glory  of,  or  even  to  do 
simple  justice  to,  the  grand  achievements  of  the 
present  age.  Nor  do  the  Express  Companies  need 
them.  Of  course  there  is  no  objection  to  their  use, 
but  the  phrases,  ' '  With  the  speed  and  safety  of  the 
Express"  and  "  With  the  promptness  and  fidelity  of 
an  Expressman"  ought  to  become  so  proverbial, 
that  no  comparison  or  poetic  image  shall  be  able 
to  make  their  impression  stronger. 


244  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

There  could  be  no  better  symbol  of  "  safety  "  in 
the  transmission  of  money,  than  a  picture  of  an 
Express  messenger,  sitting  upon  his  iron  box,  in 
the  Express  car  of  a  fast  train,  rushing  along  a 
down-grade.  If  by  any  means  we  could  make  the 
picture  convey  the  idea  that  the  faithful  man  was 
well  paid  for  all  the  risks  he  runs,  the  idea  would 
be  doubtless  still  more  satisfactory. 

IRRESPONSIBLE  EXPRESS  ENTERPRISES. 

Every  now  and  then  a  new  Express  starts  into  an 
ephemeral  existence,  without  either  capital  or  facil 
ities.  The  Express  business  cannot  be  learnt  in  a 
day,  nor  can  it  be  conducted  without  a  reserve  fund, 
to  pay  the  losses  which  are  liable  to  occur,  even  in 
the  best  managed  companies.  Two  or  three  very 
clever  fellows — A.,  B.,  and  0.,  for  instance — may 
advertise  to  run  an  Express.  That  is  easily  done; 
and  if  they  have  either  money  or  credit  enough  to 
obtain  an  office  and  a  team,  possibly  they  may 
secure,  also,  a  contract  for  room  for  their  freight 
upon  an  express  train.  But  supposing  that  they 
should  lose,  or  have  stolen  from  them,  a  valuable 
package  intrusted  to  their  care?  The  American 
Express  had  two  boxes,  of  $25,000  each,  stolen 
from  them,  and  paid  for  them  in  full.  The  Adams 
Express  Co.  lost  $10,000  at  one  lick  on  their  South 
ern  route,  and  paid  for  it,  in  hard  dollars,  to  the 
last  dime.  The  same  responsibility  and  honor  have 
been  noticeable  in  the  other  prominent  Express 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  245 

Companies  mentioned  in  this  book.  But  what 
would  ''A.,  B.  and  C."  do  in  such  an  emergency? 
Have  they  the  money  with  which  to  satisfy  the 
shipper  for  the  loss?  It  may  be  $500,  it  may  be 
$5,000:  the  loss  is  quite  as  likely  to  be  large  as 
small;  and  more  so,  for  the  greater  the  sum  the 
greater  the  temptation  to  dishonest  clerks  or  out 
side  thieves  to  steal  it. 

BOGUS  "EXPRESSES." 

The  public  are  often  imposed  upon,  and  the  rep 
utation  of  honest  expressmen  is  hurt,  by  swindlers, 
pretending  to  do  an  express  business  on  their  own 
account,  or  as  employees  of  the  good  and  reliable 
companies.  The  least  injurious  of  these  scoun 
drels,  perhaps,  are  those  who,  with  no  other  facili 
ties  than  are  enjoyed  by  any  common  freight  for 
warder,  advertise  to  put  freight  through  with  ex 
press  speed. 

The  worst  form  of  the  bogus  express,  however, 
is  that  in  which  the  swindler  receives  packages  to 
forward,  and  audaciously  appropriates  them  to  his 
own  use,  or  deposits  them  with  a  pawnbroker. 
This  rascality  succeeds  best  when  the  bogus  ex 
pressman  pretends  to  forward  parcels  to  Europe. 
In  that  case  it  takes  the  victim  several  months  to 
discover  the  fraud;  and  even  then  he  finds  it  so 
difficult  to  prove  it,  that  he  suffers  his  injury  to  go 
unredressed.  Pursuing  their  impositions  with  im 
punity,  the  swindlers  go  a  step  further,  and  sell 


246  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

worthless  bills  of  exchange  upon  the  principal  for 
eign  cities. 

A  trick  practised  considerably  of  late  years,  by 
rogues  in  the  name  of  expressmen,  is  to  call  upon 
people  at  their  houses  with  bundles,  purporting  to 
have  come  by  express  from  a  distance,  upon  which 
they  have  the  hardihood  to  collect  charges.  Their 
demands  are  usually  paid,  and  their  victims  too 
late  discover  that  they  have  got  in  exchange  for 
their  money  only  a  parcel  of  paper  rags,  or  other 
trash.  In  one  instance,  last  winter,  a  box  of 
11  game'7  was  left  at  a  house  up  town,  and  "  20  shil 
lings  charges"  collected — the  rascal  remarking  that 
he  believed  it  was  English  hares.  The  lady  was  de 
lighted  with  the  idea  that  it  was  a  present  from  a 
very  dear  friend  in  England,  and  she  was  dying  of 
impatience  until  her  servant-man  had  opened  it, 
and  discovered  that  it  contained  only  a  dead  cat. 

Another  mode,  of  the  same  system,  is  to  coun 
terfeit  the  custom,  practised  by  the  legitimate  ex 
presses,  of  notifying,  by  filling  up  printed  forms, 
those  persons  for  whom  there  are  unclaimed  par 
cels,  &c.,  in  the  office.  For  example: 

"Mr.  JOHN ,  Cayuga. 

Sir:  There  is  a  box  in  this  office  to  your  address. 
You  will  please  remit  to  us  the  charges  on  the  same, 
viz.,  $3.25,  and  remove  the  same;  or,  if  you  wish, 
it  will  be  forwarded  by  express  to  you. 

JONES  &  BROWN,  Express  Agents, 
New  York,  Oct.  12,  ?58.  711  South  St.. 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  247 

This  ruse,  practised  extensively  by  a  brace  of 
rascals  here  a  year  or  two  ago,  was  very  successful. 
Money  was  remitted  to  them  from  all  quarters,  and 
it  was  two  or  three  months  before  the  game  was 
blocked. 

Beyond  question,  these  frauds  were  either  exe 
cuted  or  suggested  by  persons  formerly  employed 
by  the  regular  Express  Companies,  but  discharged 
for  misconduct.  And  this  leads  us  again  to  the 
reflection,  that  it  is  of  very  material  if  not  vital 
importance  to  the  Express  proprietors,  that  they 
should  employ  the  most  reliable  men  that  they  can 
find  adapted  to  their  business;  and  when  they  have 
them  they  ought  to  pay  them  well  enough  to  se 
cure  a  continuance  of  their  service. 

RAILROAD  COMPANIES  AND  BAGGAGE. 

In  the  Liverpool  (England)  County  Court  judg 
ment  was  given  in  the  case  of  ' '  Wignall  vs.  the 
London  and  Northwestern  Railway  Company,'7  in  / 
which  the  plaintiff,  a  commercial  traveller,  claimed 
£25  as  compensation  for  the  loss  of  a  desk,  stolen 
from  a  carriage  in  the  Lime  Street  station,  (where 
it  had  been  placed  by  one  of  the  company's  por 
ters,)  while  the  plaintiff  was  in  the  refreshment 
room.  Three  grounds  of  defence  were  taken:  that 
the  plaintiff,  not  having  booked  when  the  desk  was 
taken,  no  contract  had  been  entered  into,  arid 
therefore  the  company  were  not  responsible  for  the 
loss;  that  the  desk  was  not  " luggage,"  within  the 


248  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

ordinary  meaning  of  the  Act  of  Parliament;  and 
that  the  order  books  and  private  papers  in  the  desk 
were  "writings,"  within  the  meaning  of  the  Carri 
ers'  Act.  His  Honor  decided  that  the  first  objec 
tion  could  not  be  sustained,  as  the  company's  serv 
ant  had  taken  charge  of  the  plaintiff's  luggage  and 
placed  it  in  the  carriage;  and  as  to  the  second  and 
third  objections,  that  nothing  could  be  more  essen 
tially  luggage  than  a  traveUing  desk,  except,  per 
haps,  articles  of  apparel  required  for  the  journey; 
and  order  books  were  absolutely  necessary  to  com 
mercial  travellers,  in  order  to  carry  on  their  busi 
ness.  He  then  gave  the  plaintiff  a  verdict  for  £3 
10^.,  the  declared  value  of  the  desk;  £2  105.  for 
the  inconvenience  arising  from  the  loss  of  the  order 
books;  and  Id.  as  the  nominal  value  of  the  private 
papers.  He  also  allowed  the  plaintiff  his  costs. 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  249 


LIGHTS   AND   SHADOWS 

OP 

EXPRESS  AND  RAILROAD  LIFE, 


THE  BOY  IN  THE  Box. 

In  an  Express  office  not  more  than  three  hundred 
miles  from  Boston,  the  watchman,  who  slept  in  the 
building,  was  advised  that  sundry  articles  of  an 
eatable  nature  had  been  abstracted  from  the  cellar. 
It  was  supposed  that  some  juvenile  thief  was  in  the 
custom  of  crawling  through  the  bars  on  one  of  the 
cellar  windows,  though  the  space  was  so  narrow 
that  it  seemed  incredible  that  any  but  a  very  small 
child  could  get  through  it.  Still,  with  all  his  vigi 
lance,  the  watchman  found  that  the  depredations 
were  continued.  To  add  to  his  aggravation,  the 
Express  clerks  and  drivers  insisted  that  he  must  be 
in  the  habit  of  sleeping  with  "  a  brick  in  his  hat;" 
and  others  insinuated  that  he  never  went  to  sleep 
hungry.  One  night,  as  he  sat  alone  in  the  office, 
meditating  somewhat  impatiently  upon  these  un 
just  suspicions,  he  thought  he  heard  a  foot-fall  on 


16" 


250  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

the  cellar  stairs !  Quicker  than  you  can  say  "Jack 
Robinson"  he  reached  the  stairway  !  He  had  for 
gotten  to  take  a  light,  and  could  see  nothing,  but 
heard  footsteps  retreat  precipitately.  It  was  not  a 
heavy  sound,  and  it  must  be,  he  thought,  the  sus 
pected  boy.  Obtaining  his  lantern  quickly,  he  de 
scended  the  stairs,  lickerty -split,  and  rushed  to  the 
window  to  prevent  the  young  rascal's  exit  in  that 
direction.  There  was  a  sound  at  the  other  end  of 
the  cellar,  as  if  the  rogue  was  seeking  to  screen 
himself  behind  some  of  the  casks,  barrels,  boxes, 
and  other  freight  in  transitu.  In  a  high  state  of 
virtuous  indignation  and  nervous  excitement,  the 
watchman  proceeded  to  get  at  him.  In  a  few  mo 
ments  he  discovered  a  corner  of  a  garment  sticking 
out  of  a  long  narrow  box,  a  rod  or  two  distant, 
just  beyond  a  dozen  or  more  of  large  bundles  which 
blocked  his  way.  Putting  down  his  lantern,  he 
clambered  over  these  articles,  (nearly  breaking  his 
neck  in  his  hurry,)  and  jerking  away  the  loose  cover, 
discovered  what  he  supposed,  by  the  dim  light,  to 
be  the  boy  in  the  box.  Madder  than  sixty,  he  de- 
nunciated  a  curse  upon  his  eyes,  and  "  pitched  into 
him."  Whack!  whack!  whack!  one  blow  followed 
another;  the  exasperated  watchman  meanwhile 
doing  up  some  of  the  tallest  kind  of  profanity,  min 
gled  with  such  remarks  as  the  following: 

"  You thief,  you !     I'll  learn  yer  to  slip  in 

and  steal  our  crackers!     This  aint  the  first  time; 
no,  nor  the  second  nuther  !      I  know  yer,  you  little 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  251 

whelp  of  Satan  !  I  recognize  yer  features  !  I  know 
yer  mother,  you  little  Irish  son  of  a  slut !  Bring 
an  honest  fellow  into  disgrace,  will  yer  ?" 

The  last  reflection,  stinging  him  with  the  remem 
brance  of  the  slurs  which  had  been  cast  upon  his 
fidelity,  even  by  the  greenest  hand  in  the  office,  on 
the  score  of  the  abstracted  crackers,  the  enraged 
watchman  quit  thumping  the  "  thief"  in  the  stomach, 
and  struck  him  on  the  head.  His  fist  sunk  into  the 
skull  under  the  force  of  the  blow,  and  there  was  a 
crackling  sound,  like  the  breaking  of  a  bone.  At 
this  the  watchman's  fury  evaporated  instantane 
ously,  and  his  heart  sank  within  him ! 

"Little  'boy!'1'1  said  he,  in  a  tremulous,  anxious 
voice,  "little  boy!" 

There  was  no  reply,  and  he  turned  as  pale  as 
death  as  the  truth  flashed  upon  him  that  life  was 
extinct.  Almost  ready  to  expire,  himself,  with  the 
unpleasant  reflection  that  he  was  a  murderer,  he 
staggered  (very  weak  at  the  knees)  over  the  bun 
dles,  and  obtaining  his  lantern,  went  back,  sick  at 
heart,  to  take  a  better  view  of  his  victim.  Unfor 
tunately,  in  his  trepidation,  he  tripped  up,  over  a 
bundle  of  Grleason's  new  weekly,  or  Harpers',  and 
in  his  fall  his  light  was  extinguished.  Horribly 
discomfited,  and  groaning  in  spirit  as  he  wiped  the 
cold  sweat  from  his  brow,  the  poor  man  picked 
himself  up  and  groped  his  way  up  stairs,  where 
the  gas  was  burning.  His  first  impulse  was  to  run 
away,  but  being  an  honest,  law-abiding  citizen,  he 


252  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

promptly  decided  to  face  the  music.  After  many 
painful  reflections,  (not  to  say  conflicting  emotions,) 
he  concluded  to  give  himself  up  immediately  to  the 
authorities. 

Before  executing  this  intention,  he  went  to  a  desk, 
and  taking  from  it  a  package  of  Schiedam  Schnapps, 
applied  it  to  his  mouth  and  turned  the  bottom  up 
solemnly  towards  the  ceiling;  then  replaced  the 
cork,  and  sighed  deeply  as  he  put  the  bottle  into 
the  desk  again.  He  then  proceeded  to  the  nearest 
police  station.  It  was  near  two  in  the  morning, 
but  the  captain  was  on  hand. 

"  What  are  you  here  for,  Mr.  Lodge,  at  this  time 
o'night?"  said  he,  with  a  yawn.  "  What's  broke?" 

"  Ah,  that's  it!"  replied  our  pale  friend.  "  It  is 
broke.  I  have  fractured  the  skull.  There's  no 
doubt  of  it.  Would  that  there  was !" 

"What?"  ejaculated  the  amazed  officer.  "Do 
you  mean  to  say  that " 

"  Yes,  sir,  that's  it.  I've  gone  and  done  a  mur 
der,  and  I've  come  to  give  myself  up."  He  then 
related  how  he  had  unintentionally,  by  an  unfortu 
nate  blow,  deprived  the  robber  of  life.  "  But  come 
with  me,"  said  he  in  conclusion,  "  and  I  will  show 
you  all." 

The  officer  followed  him,  and  entering  the  Ex 
press  office,  they  descended  with  a  brace  of  lanterns 
to  witness  the  bloody  spectacle.  Imagine  their  sur 
prise,  and  the  mingled  joy  and  shame  of  our  friend, 
on  discovering  the  boy  in  the  box  to  be  only  the 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  253 

wax  figure  of  a  Saint,  intended  for  a  church  or  con 
vent  in  Louisiana.  Being  a  new  importation,  it 
had  been  opened  by  Custom-House  Officers,  and 
had  not  been  nailed  up  again.  The  "  foot-fall"  was 
probably  caused  by  a  big  rat. 

"  Say  nothing  about  this  ridiculous  affair,  Cap 
tain,"  said  the  sold,  when  the  other  had  done  laugh 
ing,  "  and  I  will  stand  a  bottle  of  champagne  and  a 
pair  of  canvass-backs  with  you  to-morrow  at  Per 
kins's  !" 

"Agreed,"  responded  the  officer,  and  he  kept 
the  secret  faithfully  from  all — but  his  wife. 

THE  INVENTOR  OF  THE  T  RAIL. 

Robert  L.  Stevens  was  one  of  the  projectors  and 
original  stockholders  of  the  Camden  and  Arnboy 
Railroad.  He  was  sent  to  England  as  the  agent  of 
the  company,  to  examine  into  the  working  of  the 
system,  and  to  contract  for  rails  and  machinery. 
At  that  time  the  fish-bellied  rail  was  then  in  use. 
This  form  Mr.  Stevens  deemed  in  many  respects 
objectionable;  and  he  set  about  devising  a  form 
that  would  be  better,  and  more  easy  of  manufac 
ture.  He  concluded  that  the  form  T  would  answer 
the  purpose;  and  that  it  might  be  rolled  for  much 
less  than  the  fish-bellied  form  then  was  costing. 

He  devised  a  plan  for  rolling  it;  which  plan  he 
proposed  to  the  iron  manufacturer  with  whom  he 
was  negotiating  for  the  iron  for  his  company.  The 
manufacturer  was  unwilling  to  test  the  plan,  alleg- 


254  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

ing  that  it  would  involve  considerable  expense.  Mr. 
Stevens,  not  inclined  to  give  up  his  point,  asked 
what  would  be  the  loss  in  case  of  failure.  He  was 
told  it  would  be  from  four  to  five  hundred  pounds. 
In  reply  to  this  he  offered  to  advance  that  amount, 
to  be  credited  by  the  company  in  case  of  the  adop 
tion  of  his  plan,  and  to  be  held  responsible  for 
whatever  expenses  might  be  incurred  in  the  trial, 
if  his  plan  should  not  succeed.  His  offer  was  ac 
cepted;  and  a  foreman,  with  a  sufficient  number  of 
men,  were  placed  under  his  direction. 

The  first  trial  had  a  result  that  might  have  dis 
couraged  a  less  resolute  inventor,  and  caused  a  less 
wealthy  one  to  be  denied  further  privileges  in  the 
mill.  The  rail  would  not  come  on  straight,  but 
persisted  in  winding  around  the  roller.  A  second 
trial,  in  which  the  grooves  were  tapered  so  as  to 
allow  the  rail  to  get  out  easily,  was  tolerably  suc 
cessful,  and  after  a  few  alterations,  the  invention  of 
the  T  rail  was  complete,  and  the  order  was  given 
for  rails  in  that  form.  This  account  was  given  by 
Mr.  Stevens  himself,  to  a  friend  of  ours  who  inquired 
of  him  as  to  the  truth  of  the  current  report  that  he 
was  the  inventor  of  this  form  of  rail. 

SELLING  A  RAILROAD  CONDUCTOR. 

The  Mobile  Register,  a  year  or  two  ago,  had  the 
following  good  story: 

' '  As  the  Citronelle  train  was  on  its  downward 
trip  to  this  city  yesterday  morning,  an  incident  oc- 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  255 

curred  that  caused  no  little  amusement  to  the  pas 
sengers.  As  the  train  was  approaching  Eight  Mile 
station,  a  lady  quite  elegantly  attired,  with  a  lovely 
boquet  of  wild  flowers  in  her  hand,  and  face  con 
cealed  from  view  by  a  handsome  veil,  was  discovered 
standing  on  the  platform.  The  train  was  of  course 
ordered  to  stop  and  take  in  the  fair  passenger — and 
stop  it  did.  The  gallant  conductor  jumped  out  up 
on  the  platform  and  cried  out  as  usual,  '  all  aboard! ? 
at  the  same  time  raising  his  hat  and  politely  extend 
ing  his  hand  to  help  the  lady  aboard.  She,  how 
ever,  did  not  recognize  his  gallantry,  but  stood 
dumb  and  motionless  as  a  statue.  The  astonished 
conductor  advanced,  involuntarily  raised  the  veil, 
when  lo,  instead  of  a  face  of  flesh  and  beauty,  the 
words  '  April  fool,'  inscribed  on  a  black  lightwood 
chunk,  met  his  astonished  vision!  He  started  back, 
gave  the  signal  to  be  off,  with  unusual  violence, 
jumped  aboard,  exclaiming  to  the  innocent  engineer, 
1  Who  the  deuce  told  you  to  stop  here  ?' ' 

SELFISHNESS  AND  ILL-BREEDING  OF  PASSENGERS. 

The  piggish  behavior  of  many  railroad  travellers 
is  disgusting.  A  sensible  writer  says: 

"  Perhaps  we  have  no  right  to  expect  that  men, 
women,  and  children  will  be  transformed  in  the 
cars  to  what  they  are  not  at  home  in  breeding  and 
character,  but  it  sometimes  appears  to  us  that  half 
the  world  reserves  its  cast-off  habits  of  manners 
and  conduct,  to  wear  in  journeying.  We  wonder  if 


256  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

it  ever  occurred  to  that  well-dressed  man  at  our 
right,  that  it  is  a  greater  insult  to  squirt  tobacco  juice 
on  the  floor  of  a  room  where  a  hundred  must  sit, 
breath,  and  smell  a  whole  day,  than  on  a  drawing- 
room  carpet,  where  two  people  are  to  sit  an  hour  ? 
That  genteel  lady  behind  us  would  not  ask  us  to 
sit  by  an  open  window  in  her  own  house  on  a  Jan 
uary  morning,  if  we  made  her  a  fashionable  call;  yet 
she  opens  a  car  window,  and  gives  us  a  draft  across 
the  neck,  like  a  sharp  sword,  during  a  six  hours7 
ride.  Should  we  make  a  wedding  call  on  that  sen 
timental-looking  young  couple  yonder,  would  they 
not  be  as  polite  in  giving  us  the  best  seat  as  they 
are  boorish  now  in  driving  up  some  good-natured 
farmer,  to  roam  in  vain  through  crowded  aisles  for  a 
resting  place?" 

The  utter  selfishness  or  impudence,  call  it  what 
you  will,  of  some  persons,  (and  we  are  sorry  we 
cannot  except  the  women  from  the  number,)  in 
monopolizing  twice  as  much  room  as  is  their  share, 
while  others  are  standing,  or  seeking  in  vain  for  a 
seat,  has  often  made  us  feel  not  a  little  indignant. 

EXPRESS  AND  RAILROAD  SKETCHES. 

HUMOROUS    AND    PATHETIC. 

The  following  sketchy  articles,  numbered  in  the 
order  in  which  they  were  furnished  to  us,  are  from 
the  pen  of  an  experienced  and  highly  valued  mes 
senger  of  the  American  Express  Company. 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  257 

No.  1. 

EXPRESS    LIFE. 

"  How  much  will  you  charge  to  take  this  pack 
age  to  Illinois  ?" 

"One  dollar." 

11  Outrageous  ;  it  is  only  worth  fifty  cents,  and 
you  have  the  conscience  to  charge  twice  the  worth 
of  it." 

"  It  is  not  our  fault  that  the  cost  was  only  fifty 
cents;  you  can  make  the  package  twice  as  large,  and 
the  cost  of  transportation  will  only  be  the  same." 

"  But  that  I  do  not  want  to  do,  as  it  will  be  so 
much  out  of  my  pocket  for  nothing." 

' '  Yet  you  do  not  think  it  will  be  outrageous  for 
us  to  be  out  of  pocket  in  carrying  this  to  your 
friend." 

"I  cannot  see  that  you  will  be  at  any  loss  by 
taking  it  for  fifty  cents.  If  you  can  explain  it  to 
me,  I  will  be  satisfied." 

"  Sensible  to  the  last,  and  I  am  truly  glad  that 
you  ask  for  the  information.  In  the  first  place,  we 
charge  you  two  shillings  to  carry  this  to  B.  Then 
pay  two  shillings  to  get  it  to  C.,  two  shillings  from 
C.  to  M.,  and  two  shillings  from  M.  to  S.,  where 
your  friend  resides,  thus  making  one  dollar.  If  we 
take  it  for  fifty  cents  we  will  be  obliged  to  carry  it 
to  B.  for  nothing,  and  pay  from  B.  to  C.  two  shil 
lings  out  of  our  own  pocket,  thus  losing  cash  two 
shillings,  and  the  freight  from  here  to  B.,  which  we 

17 


258  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

pay  to  the  Railroad.  Thus  actually  losing  about 
forty  cents,  besides  assuming  the  responsibility  of 
delivering  your  package  to  your  friend  in  Illinois." 

"I  was  not  aware  that  such  was  the  case,  and 
pardon  me  for  speaking  so  abruptly  when  I  just 
came  in  !" 

11  Granted,  my  dear  sir,  and  it  always  affords  us 
pleasure  to  give  every  information  in  our  power  in 
regard  to  business.  And  I  assure  you,  that  if 
many  persons  who  think  we  are  extortioners  and 
swindlers,  and  call  us  many  other  hard  names, 
would  only  ask  for  a  reason,  they  would  be  as  sat 
isfied  as  you  are.  But  on  the  contrary  they  ask  a 
question,  and  before  they  hardly  get  an  answer 
they  fly  off  at  a  tangent,  muttering  about  many 
things  they  do  not  understand,  and  working  them 
selves  into  a  passion;  when,  if  they  had  waited  but 
a  few  moments,  they  would  have  had  an  explana 
tion  which  would  have  saved  a  great  deal  of  wear 
and  tear  of  conscience,  and  they  would  have  been 
better  prepared  to  hear  a  sermon  than  run  the  risk  of 
an  explosion  of  their  head  from  a  pent-up  passion. " 

No.  2. 

EXPRESS   LIFE. 

"  Can  you  take  a  box  to  Albany  to-day  ?"  was 
the  question  of  a  good-looking  young  gentleman, 
who  was  trying  to  raise  a  crop  of  hair  on  his  upper 
lip.  but  which  seemed  more  like  the  down  on  the 
south  side  of  a  peach. 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  259 

"We  will  start  it  to-day,  and  it  will  arrive  in 
Albany  sometime  during  the  night,  provided  the 
train  has  the  good  luck  to  reach  there." 

"Oh!  but  it  must  reach  there  by  nine  o'clock 
to-night,  at  the  farthest." 

"  Had  you  not  better  send  it  by  telegraph,  then 
there  will  be  no  doubt  of  its  arriving  in  time  ?" 

' '  The  telegraph  man  laughed  at  me  when  I 
asked  him  to  do  it,  and  said  I  had  better  carry  it 
there  myself." 

"  As  it  is  now  near  five  o'clock,  and  as  it  must  be 
there  by  nine,  you  had  better  follow  his  advice. 
Those  gentlemen  who  work  the  telegraph  under 
stand  velocity  in  a  remarkable  degree,  and  I  have 
no  doubt  they  judged  correctly  when  they  advised 
you  to  take  it  there  yourself." 

"  I  suppose  they  judged  me  to  be  a  fast  young 
man,  from  the  observations  they  made,  and  I  was 
not  pleased  with  them." 

"  They  seldom  form  an  incorrect  opinion  of  those 
persons  who  visit  them,  and  I  doubt  much  whether 
they  were  mistaken  with  you." 

"What  must  I  do,  then?" 

"  Take  the  advice  of  the  telegraph  operator." 

"  What !  and  carry  the  box  there  myself?" 

"  Certainly.  You  know  it  must  be  there  by  nine 
o'clock,  and  I  know  of  no  other  way  of  its  getting 
there." 

And  such  impossibilities  are  expected  by  persons 
every  day.  They  think  that  the  Express  Compa- 


260  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

nies  can  annihilate  time  and  space,  and  run  special 
trains  for  their  special  accommodation;  and  if  it  is 
not  done,  they  go  off  in  a  huff,  and  talk  as  valor- 
ously  as  ever  Falstaff  did,  because  they  cannot  be 
gratified. 

No.  3. 

WINTER    EXPERIENCE. 

"See  here,  Mister,  four  weeks  ago  there  was  a 
box  sent  to  me  from  Saint  Paul's,  and  I  want  it !" 
was  the  savage  request  of  a  surly-looking  fellow, 
who  looked  as  if  he  would  eat  up  the  whole  com 
pany,  and  wash  them  down  with  a  barrel  of  hard 
cider. 

'  *  How  do  you  know  that,  my  dear  sir?" 

"Why,  here's  a  letter  that  says  so." 

"  When  did  you  receive  that  letter?" 

"  This  morning,  by  mail." 

' 'When  was  it  dated?" 

"January  10th." 

"Come,  my  friend,"  said  the  clerk,  "let  us  make 
a  little  calculation  about  that  box,  and  we  may 
possibly  arrive  at  some  conclusion  where  it  is.  How 
much  do  you  suppose  was  the  weight  of  it?"- 

'  Well,  I  don't  know.  There  was  a  saddle  of 
venison,  a  hind  quarter  of  bear,  twenty  prairie 
hens,  and  quails  enough  to  fill  up  the  chinks.  The 
bear  weighed  six  hundred  pounds  when  he  was 
killed,  and  the  deer  was  a  good  one." 

"  Suppose  the  bear  weighed  one  hundred  pounds, 
the  deer  fifty  pounds,  the  hens  forty  pounds,  and 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  261 

the  quails  ten  pounds,  making  a  total  weight  of 
two  hundred  pounds;  and,  as  I  suppose  you  have 
been  in  that  country  in  the  winter  season,  you  must 
know  what  kind  of  travelling  they  have  there." 

"  No,  sir,  I  have  never  been  there,  and  don't 
know  anything  about  the  country,  but  I  suppose  it 
must  be  wild,  or  they  would  not  have  so  many  wild 
animals  there." 

"Well,  it  is  about  the  last  place  where  a  white 
man  would  think  of  locating,  but  there  is  quite  a 
number  of  that  sort  of  people  settled  in  that  neigh 
borhood,  and  some  of  them  are  good  fellows,  and 
have  compassion  on  their  poor  friends  here,  as  has 
been  the  case  of  your  friend.  But  you  must  know 
that,  at  the  present  time,  the  snow  averages  about 
fifteen  feet  in  depth,  any  where  within  500  miles  of 
Saint  Paul's,  and  it  is  somewhat  difficult  to  make  a 
passage  through  it.  Uncle  Sam  sends  a  mail  from 
there  once  a  week,  and  it  is  carried  on  the  back  of 
an  Indian  or  trapper,  who  makes  his  way  as  best 
he  can,  to  the  nearest  settlement,  on  snow  shoes. 
And  if  it  required  a  month  to  bring  one  letter  from 
there,  can  you  think  it  very  strange  that  your  box, 
which  weighs  two  hundred  pounds,  should  be  de 
layed  a  little  while  longer?  But  there  is  one  satis 
faction,  which  will  comfort  you  some,  that  the  meat 
is  frozen  pretty  solid,  and  will  therefore  keep  good. 
I  know  that  this  is  '  cold  comfort, '  but  it  is  the  best 
I  can  offer  you,  under  the  circumstances." 

"Well,  stranger,  I  didn't  think  quite  so  far  as 


262  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

that,  and  I  suppose  that  I  must  wait  until  it  does 
come.  But  I  tell  you  what,  I  just  calculated  that 
I  was  going  to  live  a  little  on  that  bear,  and  I've 
got  to  draw  the  strap  a  little  tighter,  and  wait 
patiently." 

"  As  soon  as  it  arrives,  we  will  send  it  up  to  you. 
I  hope  that  you  will  not  experience  much  incon 
venience  from  the  delay." 

11 1  hope  not,  for  I  feel  a  little  wolfish,  at  present, 
and  that  bear  might  satisfy  me  some.  Now,  don't 
forget  to  send  it  up  when  it  comes,  for  I'm  anxious." 

The  gentleman  departed,  and  we  were  not  very 
sorry,  being  under  the  conviction  that  his  inward 
man  required  replenishing,  and,  for  want  of  bear's 
meat,  he  might  take  a  fancy  to  demolish  us  for  the 
purpose  of  making  a  hearty  meal.  His  box  arrived 
the  next  day,  and  it  was  dispatched  to  him  "  quick 
as  the  lightning's  flash,"  fearful  that  he  might,  in 
a  wolfish  moment,  pay  us  another  visit. 

No.  4. 

THE    TORPEDO. 

We  were  riding  along  one  day  at  a  pretty  rapid 
rate  with  a  nice  little  company  of  railroad  men, 
who  were  passing  the  time  in  relating  adventures 
through  which  they  had  passed,  when  we  were 
startled  by  a  report  resembling  that  caused  by  a 
four  pounder,  and  at  the  same  instant  was  heard 
the  engineer's  whistle  of  "  on  brakes."  Bet  your 
life  we  jumped  when  we  heard  that,  for  we  knew 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  263 

something  was  the  matter  ahead,  and  the  warning 
given  to  us  made  us  open  our  eyes  wide.  I  sup 
pose  you  have  both  seen  and  heard  a  torpedo,  have 
you  not  ?  No  !  Then  I  must  tell  you,  that  in  a 
small  round  box,  very  similar  to  a  blacking  box,  is 
placed  a  quantity  of  fulminating  powder,  which  ex 
plodes  upon  pressure  being  applied  to  it.  This  box 
has  two  tin  straps  soldered  to  it  for  the  purpose  of 
strapping  it  on  the  rail,  and  when  there  is  a  draw 
bridge  open,  or  any  derangement  of  the  road, 
whereby  an  accident  might  happen,  it  is  the  duty 
of  the  flag  or  station  man  to  hang  out  a  red  flag  or 
lamp,  and  then  run  some  hundred  yards  and  place 
two  or  three  of  these  torpedoes  on  the  rail.  The 
engine  in  passing  over  causes  them  to  explode  with  a 
loud  report,  and  as  soon  as  the  engineer  hears  them 
he  must  instantly  stop  the  train.  At  night,  or  in 
foggy  weather,  when  the  flag  can  only  be  seen  at  a 
short  distance,  these  torpedoes  are  freely  used,  and 
thereby  the  danger  avoided. 

It  was  a  foggy  day  when  we  were  coming  down, 

and  one  of  our  party,  Jack  R ,  had  never  heard 

one  of  the  things  go  off.  He  thought  that  some 
person  had  thrown  a  stone  against  the  car,  or  a 
piece  of  wood  had  fallen  from  the  tender  and  struck 
it,  and  he  therefore  sat  still  and  wondered  what 
had  made  us  jump  so  lively  like  a  parcel  of  Hippo 
drome  performers. 

When  the  train  stopped,  and  he  found  out  that 
a  drawbridge  was  open  just  beyond  a  short  curve, 


264  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

and  that  the  red  flag  could  not  be  seen  for  more 
than  twenty  yards  from  the  engine,  he  began  to 
feel  all  over  as  if  he  had  been  subjected  to  a  cold 
bath,  "  and  trembled  like  an  aspen  leaf  in  a  high 
wind."  Poor  Jack  !  methinks  I  can  at  this  distant 
day  see  his  lengthened  doleful  countenance,  as  hard 
jokes  thick  and  fast  came  pouring  down  upon  him 
from  our  little  party;  for  although  he  had  been 
travelling  on  the  cars  for  a  year,  this  was  the  first 
time  he  had  heard  the  explosion  of  a  torpedo,  and 
I  doubt  much  whether  he  will  ever  forget  it. 

No.  Y. 

THE   RAILROAD   TUNNEL. 

Stop  a  few  minutes,  and  let  us  look  at  yonder 
mountain.  Its  majestic  crown  rises  nearly  to  the 
clouds,  and  its  sides  are  covered  with  the  evergreen, 
hemlock  and  pine,  the  laurel  and  the  spruce.  How 
often  has  the  painter  tried  to  convey  to  his  canvas 
its  beauties,  and  how  often  has  he  failed,  See  you 
that  small  dark  spot  near  its  base?  It  is  the  mouth 
of  a  tunnel  which  has  been,  by  human  energy,  bored 
through  the  solid  rock  for  a  long  distance. 

Suddenly,  as  if  from  the  unboundless  depths  of 
the  earth,  is  heard  a  roaring  and  shrieking,  as  though 
all  the  thunders  of  the  universe  were  combined  in 
that  one  spot,  and  the  ground  vibrates  for  miles 
around,  as  if  shaken  by  an  earthquake.  In  wonder 
and  amazement,  you  believe  that  the  volcanic  fires, 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  265 

bound  in  the  deep  bowels  of  the  earth,  are  about 
to  burst  forth  in  all  their  beauty,  violence  and  terror. 
But.  ere  the  mind  has  time  to  recover  from  this 
impression,  you  see  issuing  from  that  small  dark 
spot  upon  the  mountain  side  two  large,  bright  glar 
ing  eyes,  followed  by  a  coal-black  iron  steed,  pro 
pelled  by  a  fiery  steam;  and  rushing  forward  with 
an  impetuosity  equal  to  the  wind,  it  passes  beside 
you,  and  before  you  are  aware  of  it,  naught  is  seen 
save  a  long,  thin  stream  of  light  vapor,  shaking  and 
curling  in  the  distance  like  the  tail  of  an  enormous 
serpent,  let  loose  from  the  bowels  of  the  mountain 
to  scourge  and  ravage  the  earth.  The  track  of 
the  railroad  is  laid  through  that  tunnel,  and  the 
engine,  with  its  train  of  cars  loaded  with  a  living 
freight,  has  just  passed  you. 

The  Boston  Journal  lately  published  the  follow 
ing: 

"WHERE  SHALL  I  DELIVER  IT?" — Such  was  the 
anxious  inquiry  of  one  of  the  Cambridge  Express 
messengers  this  morning,  as  he  received  a  parcel 
bearing  the  following  superscription: 

"Timothy  0.  Conner,  No.  82  Eliate  Street,  Bos 
ton,  State  of  Massachusetts,  for  Timothy  Murphy; 
please  to  deliver  to  Mrs.  Laby,  North  Cambridge. 
To  be  left  at  Porter's  Hotel,  Cambridge,  Massachu 
setts." 


17' 


266  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

THE  $50,000  ROBBERT. 

On  the  21st  of  September,  1855,  Charles  GK 
Clark,  for  many  years  the  highly  esteemed  money 
clerk  of  the  American  Express  Co.  in  this  city,  re 
ceived  at  the  hands  of  the  faithful  messenger,  John 
Upton,  two  boxes,  purporting  to  contain  $25,000 
each,  in  gold,  sent  by  Express  from  the  U.  S.  Re 
ceiver  at  Dubuque,  Iowa.  For  reasons  which  I 
shall  render  presently,  Upton  suspected  that  the 
boxes  were  bogus.  Clark  was  of  the  same  opinion. 
After  remaining  in  the  American  Express  office,  62 
Broadway,  an  hour  and  a  half,  until  the  President 
came  in,  the  boxes  were  conveyed,  in  charge  of 
Henry  Wells,  to  the  office  of  the  U.  S.  Sub-Treasu 
rer,  where  they  were  opened  in  presence  of  that 
functionary  and  his  clerks,  and  Messrs.  Henry  Wells, 
Chas.  G.  Clark,  and  John  Upton,  and  found  to  con 
tain  only  bullets,  sheet  lead  and  brown  paper/ 

The  inference  was,  that  either  at  Dubuque,  or  en 
route  to  New  York,  the  boxes  of  gold  originally 
received  had  been  rifled  or  exchanged  for  two  ex 
actly  like  them  externally,  but  almost  worthless  in 
fact.  The  feelings  of  the  Expressmen  may  be  bet- 
u  i  imagined  than  described.  Henry  Wells  assur 
ed  the  Sub-Treasurer  that  as  soon  as  his  Company 
should  be  satisfied  that  the  loss  occurred  after  the 
gold  had  been  put  in  charge  of  the  Express  at  Du 
buque,  the  amount  of  it  would  be  paid  into  the 
U.  S.  Treasury  without  delay.  In  the  course  of  a 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  267 

few  weeks,  a  thorough  investigation  at  Dubuque 
satisfied  the  Company  of  the  fact,  and  Alexander 
Holland,  the  New  York  Agent,  paid  into  the  U.  S. 
Sub-Treasury,  of  this  city,  the  sum  of  $50,000  with 
interest. 

In  the  meantime,  the  American  Express  Co.  had 
offered  a  large  reward  for  the  conviction  of  the 
robbers  and  recovery  of  the  money.  Nor  did  they 
spare  any  personal  pains  to  unravel  the  mystery. 
The  integrity  of  their  agent  at  Dubuque  was  above 
suspicion;  nor  could  they  see  any  reason  to  doubt 
the  fidelity  of  any  other  of  their  employees  who  had 
anything  to  do  with  the  boxes.  Weeks  and  months 
passed,  and  the  mystery  continued  as  profound  as 
ever,  when  unexpectedly  a  clue  was  obtained.  Two 
men,  William  C.  Ayer  arid  Oliver.  King,  residents 
of  Lowell,  Mass.,  and  known  to  have  been  intimate 
with  Samuel  C.  White,  the  messenger  of  the  Com 
pany  between  Chicago  and  Detroit,  were  very  flush 
of  gold  coin  not  long  after  the  robbery,  and  one  of 
them  deposited  $8,000  in  gold  in  the  Bank  at  Hav- 
erhill,  Mass.,  accounting  for  it,  when  questioned  af 
terwards,  by  saying  that  he  had  been  lucky  in  Cali 
fornia.  It  was  ascertained  also  by  Captain  Best, 
the  excellent  "  detective'7  employed  upon  this  scent, 
(and  to  whom,  by  the  way,  great  praise  has  been 
awarded  for  his  sagacity  and  thoroughness  in  the 
case,)  that  these  two  men  were  in  Detroit  a  few 
days  prior  to  the  17th  of  September,  which  was  the 
date  of  the  agent's  receiving  the  boxes  in  charge. 


268  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

Upon  this  imperfect,  yet  important  evidence,  Ayer, 
King,  and  the  messenger,  White,  were  arrested. 
The  latter  had  been  employed  formerly  by  a  small 
Express  concern  in  the  Railroad  Exchange,  Boston. 

The  trial  of  the  prisoners  was  commenced  on  the 
18th  of  June,  1856,  at  Detroit,  Michigan,  and  last 
ed  several  days.  Judge  Douglass  was  on  the 
bench,  assisted  by  Judge  Wing.  Messrs.  Emmons 
and  Nye  conducted  the  prosecution,  and  Levi  Bish 
op  the  defence. 

Upon  a  table  in  front  of  the  jury  lay  four  small 
pine  boxes,  which  attracted  almost  as  much  atten 
tion  as  the  prisoners  themselves.  Two  of  the  boxes 
were  the  bogus  ones,  and  two  were  genuine.  The 
testimony  was  very  full  and  conclusive  against  the 
prisoners.  Daniel  0.  C.  Quigley,  a  son  of  the  U. 
S.  Receiver  at  Dubuque,  then  acting  as  his  clerk, 
testified  that  on  the  17th  September,  (1855,)  he 
packed  and  delivered  to  Edwin  Hayden,  Agent  at 
the  American  Express  office  in  that  place,  two  pine 
boxes  containing  $25,000  each,  in  five,  ten,  and 
twenty  dollar  gold  pieces,  but  chiefly  the  larger 
coin.  The  boxes  were  directed  "  Assistant  Treas 
urer,  New  York.'7  They  were  of  a  pattern  always 
used  by  the  Receiver  for  the  purpose,  and  all  he 
used  were  made  by  the  same  man.  The  witness 
was  in  the  custom  of  packing  and  sending  such 
boxes  by  express.  Only  corroborative  evidence 
was  elicited  upon  the  corroboration  of  this  witness. 
Edwin  Hayden,  the  Express  agent,  testified  that 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  269 

he  received  the  described  boxes  (marked  as  con 
taining  $25,000  each,  in  gold)  at  the  time  sworn 
to  by  Quigley,  and  took  them  himself  the  next 
morning,  according  to  custom,  to  the  opposite  side 
of  the  river,  to  the  cars  in  Dunleith,  and  delivered 
them  to  J.  W.  Parker,  the  Express  messenger  who 
was  to  make  the  trip  to  Chicago.  His  reason  for 
not  sending  them  forward  the  same  evening  on 
which  they  were  received,  instead  of  keeping  them 
all  night  in  the  office,  because  the  only  express  run 
was  on  the  morning  train.  The  bogus  boxes,  since 
shown  to  him,  had  hemlock  bottoms,  instead  of 
pine,  as  usual — a  difference  which  he  would  have 
noticed  at  any  time.  He  was  confident  that  they 
were  not  the  ones  which  he  had  received  and  de 
livered  to  the  Express  messenger.  James  W.  Par 
ker  testified  that  he  received  the  boxes  of  gold,  as 
sworn  to  by  Hay  den,  and  arriving  at  Chicago  at 
4.45  P.  M.,  delivered  them  to  Mr.  Ray  nor,  the 
checking  clerk  at  the  American  Express  office. 

Alexander  Raynor  testified  that  he  received  the 
two  boxes  on  the  18th  September,  from  Parker, 
and  locked  them  up  in  the  safe,  where  they  remain 
ed  about  two  hours,  until  transferred  to  the  keep 
ing  of  the  messenger  from  Chicago  to  Detroit,  Sam 
uel  C.  White,  now  on  trial.  White's  train  left  for 
Detroit  between  8.30  and  9  P.  M.  The  Express 
messenger  on  the  night  express  was  not  to  deliver 
any  way  packages.  John  Sutton,  one  of  the  Ex 
press  drivers,  conveyed  White  to  the  Detroit  cars, 


270  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

as  was  confirmed  by  his  testimony.  Henry  Kip,  of 
Buffalo,  Superintendent  of  the  Western  Division  of 
the  American  Express  at  the  time,  testified,  that  on 
the  second  Friday  after  the  robbery  he  had  a  con 
versation  with  White  at  the  office  in  Detroit,  in 
which  the  latter  admitted  that  he  had  received  the 
boxes  as  stated,  and  rode  with  them  in  the  Compa 
ny's  wagon  to  the  depot,  and  put  them  into  his 
messenger  safe,  in  the  Express  car,  but  took  them 
out  when  about  12  miles  from  Detroit.  Upon  ar 
riving  at  the  depot,  he  met  the  Express  driver,  and 
putting  them  and  his  other  packages  into  the  wagon, 
drove  up  with  him  to  the  Company's  office  in  De 
troit.  Each  messenger  always  has  his  own  safe 
and  key.  The  duplicate  keys  of  the  safes  are  kept 
in  the  Buffalo  office.  W.  H.  Stow  testified  that  he 
was  checking  clerk  in  the  Detroit  office  at  the  time, 
the  19th  September,  and  received  from  White  two 
boxes,  which  were  next  delivered  to  Thaddeus  Day, 
the  messenger  between  Detroit  and  Buffalo.  Day 
testified  to  receiving,  on  the  19th  September,  two 
boxes,  said  to  contain  specie,  and  locking  them  up 
in  his  iron-bound  express  trunk.  Arriving  at  Sus 
pension  Bridge,  he  took  them  from  the  trunk  and 
put  them  in  the  baggage  car,  but  keeping  them  in 
sight  until  his  arrival  in  Buffalo,  where  he  delivered 
them  to  the  Company's  receiving  clerk,  0.  A.  Judd; 
at  his  request,  placing  them  tin  the  vault.  Judd's 
testimony  confirmed  Day's.  The  boxes  marked 
$25,000  each  were  brought  in  by  Day  about  10 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  271 

A.  M.  on  the  20th  September.  They  remained  in 
the  vault  until  2  P.  M.  Soon  after  they  were 
delivered  to  Messenger  Mahon,  who  went  in  the 
train  East  at  4  P.  M.  Mahon  testified  to  receiving 
and  conveying  them  to  Albany,  where  he  delivered 
them  to  John  Upton,  the  Company's  messenger  from 
Albany  to  New  York,  at  the  New  York  Central 
Railroad  Depot,  .about  half-past  4  on  the  morning 
of  the  21st  September.  John  Upton  testified  to 
his  careful  conveyance  of  the  boxes  to  the  New 
York  office.  On  the  road  between  Albany  and 
Poughkeepsie,  he  discovered  that  the  cover  of  one 
of  the  boxes  was  not  screwed  down  tight,  and,  on 
examining  it,  saw  something  inside  looking  more 
like  lead  than  gold.  At  31st  Street,  upon  unload 
ing  his  freight,  he  became  satisfied  that  the  box  was 
filled  with  bullets.  He  readily  discovered  the  dif 
ference  in  the  sound  of  the  rattling  from  the  jin 
gling  of  coin. 

Charles  Gr.  Clark  testified  that,  in  September, 
1855,  he  had  charge  of  the  money  delivering  de 
partment  of  the  American  Express  Company  in 
New  York;  and  on  the  21st  received  from  John 
Upton  two  boxes,  directed  to  the  Assistant  Treas 
urer  of  the  United  States,  at  New  York,  and  each 
marked  as  containing  $25,000.  In  an  hour  and  a 
half  after  receiving  them,  he  went  with  them,  in  a 
wagon,  to  the  Assistant  Treasurer's  office,  accom 
panying  Henry  Wells  and  John  Upton.  Assisting 
the  Treasurer's  clerks  in  opening  them,  in  presence 


2*72  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

of  them  all,  he  found  them  to  contain  bullets  and 
sheet  lead,  with  a  piece  of  paper  in  the  top  of  each 
box.  Upton  had  called  his  attention  to  one  of  the 
boxes  before  leaving  the  office. 

Henry  Wells  corroborated  Clark's  testimony. 
He  had  compared  the  bogus  boxes  when  emptied 
with  those  that  had  been  used  in  the  transportation 
of  coin,  and  observed  on  the  sides  of  one  indenta 
tions  made  by  bullets;  in  the  other  a  deep  mark, 
from  which  all  present  inferred  that  the  boxes  had 
never  contained  coin,  for  that  usually  leaves  its  own 
stamp.  He  pointed  out  to  the  jury  the  indentations 
of  coin  in  a  genuine  box.  Since  the  robbery,  the 
$50,000  had  been  paid  into  the  U.  S.  Treasury. 

William  A.  Gregg  testified  that  he  lived  in  Bos 
ton,  and  knew  all  three  of  the  prisoners;  on  the  3d 
of  September  last,  fell  accidently  into  the  com 
pany  of  Ayer  and  King,  and  travelled  with  them  to 
Buffalo.  They  carried  only  valises. 

Alfred  H.  Stillman,  clerk  at  the  Tremont  House 
in  Detroit,  testified  that  Ayer  and  King  took  lodg 
ings  at  that  hotel  on  the  7th  of  September,  and  left 
on  the  10th.  White  was  with  them  much  of  the 
time.  He  boarded  at  the  same  house:  sometimes 
wanted  to  borrow  small  sums  of  money. 

It  was  proved,  also,  that  shortly  after  the  robbery 
the  three  prisoners  were  seen  together  upon  the 
Railroad  train,  and  at  a  hotel  in  Chicago:  Ayer 
and  King  were  very  prodigal  in  the  use  of  gold 
coin.  About  a  month  subsequent  to  the  robbery, 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  273 

White  left  the  employ  of  the  Express,  giving  as  a 
reason  the  utter  inadequacy  of  the  messenger's  sal 
ary  to  the  expense  of  living.  The  reason  was  nat 
urally  regarded  as  valid,  for  no  one  could  deny  the 
truth  of  it,  and  suspicion  had  not  as  yet  rested  up 
on  him.  There  was  evidence  of  lavish  expendi 
tures  made  by  him  after  his  discharge,  and  of  his 
intimacy  with  Ayer  and  King,  who  in  the  mean 
time  were  investing  in  real  estate,  &c.  Nor  could 
any  evidence  be  brought  forward  to  prove  that  they 
had  come  honestly  by  their  ill-gotten  riches,  or  ob 
tained  it  in  any  other  way  than  by  the  robbery  with 
which  they  were  charged.  The  evidence  was  entire 
ly  circumstantial,  but  it  was  amply  sufficient  to  sat 
isfy  the  jury  of  their  guilt.  A  verdict  was  rendered 
accordingly,  and  the  three  robbers  were  sentenced 
to  long  terms  of  incarceration  in  the  State  Prison. 
No  portion  of  the  stolen  money  was  ever  recover 
ed,  nor  dared  the  Company  attach  the  real  and  per 
sonal  estate  owned  by  Ayer  and  King,  and  manifestly 
purchased  with  the  stolen  gold.  They  put  an  injunc 
tion  upon  its  sale,  however,  and  it  is  still  in  force. 

THE  MOST  REMARKABLE  EXPRESS  ROBBERY. 

By  far  the  largest  and  most  singular  Express 
robbery  that  has  ever  occurred,  took  place  at  a 
time  when  the  business  was  comparatively  new. 
The  following  are  the  particulars:  On  Thanksgiv 
ing  Day,  (in  November,  1843,)  Pullen  &  Copp's 
messenger  started  from  Albany  for  New  York,  hav- 

18 


274  EXPRESS     HISTORY. 

ing  in  charge,  besides  his  own  matters,  Pomeroy  & 
Co.'s  Express  trunk  for  delivery  at  the  office  in  this 
city.  A  portion  of  his  journey  was  made  in  stages, 
and  the  last  sixty  or  seventy  miles  in  the  steam 
boat,  the  river  being  filled  with  ice  above. 

The  season  was  already  inclement,  for,  early  as  it 
was,  winter  had  set  in.  Under  the  most  favorable 
circumstances,  it  would  have  been  a  very  tedious  and 
fatiguing  journey.  To  P.  &  C.'s  messenger  it  was 
exceedingly  so,  for  it  was  a  return  trip  without  the 
usual  pause  for  rest.  Owing  to  the  inclemency  of 
the  weather  and  the  badness  of  the  roads,  he  had 
not  arrived  in  Albany  until  it  was  time  to  start 
upon  his  return.  Exhausted  nature  pleaded  for 
repose,  but  the  calls  of  duty  were  imperative,  and 
he  set  out  again  upon  his  toilsome  way.  Few  mes 
sengers,  in  these  days,  have  an  adequate  idea  of  the 
hardships  of  the  occupation  in  those  earlier  times. 
We  do  not  say  it  to  the  disparagement  of  the  present 
men.  While  some  of  them  have  an  easy  though 
responsible  berth,  there  are  numerous  Express  mes 
sengers  who  work  hard  for  their  money,  especially 
in  the  winter  season;  and  considering  the  risks  which 
they  run,  we  are  free  to  admit  that,  as  a  general 
thing,  they  are  not  paid  as  well  as  we  could  wish 
they  were;  but,  though  the  responsibility  of  the 
messengers  has  been  materially  increased,  their  work 
is  not  as  fatiguing  as  it  was  at  that  period,  when  a 
portion  of  every  express  route  had  to  be  travelled  (at 
least  in  the  winter)  with  stages,  wagons,  or  sleighs. 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  275 

Poor  C.  had  the  hardest  kind  of  a  time  in  get 
ting  to  New  York  on  the  occasion  referred  to,  and 
we  doubt  whether  he  was  in  a  Thanksgiving  mood 
until  the  day  following,  when  the  steamboat  reach 
ed  her  pier  in  this  city. 

The  boat  was  crowded  with  passengers  and  freight, 
for  she  was  the  only  medium  of  conveyance,  and 
the  tired  messenger  was  forced  to  snatch  what  sleep 
he  got,  sitting  upon  a  desk-stool  in  the  clerk's  office. 
Close  at  hand  was  Pomeroy  &  Co.'s  Express  trunk, 
which  he  had  ready  to  deliver  to  their  driver  as  soon 
as  the  boat  should  have  reached  the  dock.  Owing 
to  the  uncertainty  of  her  arrival,  the  Express  wagon 
was  not  there,  and  as  there  was  every  reason  for 
haste,  he  concluded  that  he  had  better  go  after  it. 
He  went,  accordingly,  after  having  requested  the 
clerk  to  have  an  eye  to  his  trunk,  which  he  had 
placed  within  view,  on  deck,  just  outside  of  the 
clerk's  office.  His  proper  course  was  to  remain 
with  his  trunk,  and  to  have  sent  some  one  for  the 
wagon,  or  a  cart;  but  he  left  it,  as  we  have  said: 
probably  he  had  no  idea  of  its  immense  value. 
When  he  returned  for  it,  the  trunk  was  gone  !  In 
a  hurry  he  questioned  the  clerk,  but  neither  that 
functionary  nor  anybody  else  on  board  would  admit 
that  he  knew  anything  about  it.  Seriously  alarm 
ed,  and  full  of  self-reproaches,  the  unfortunate  mes 
senger  knew  not  what  to  think  nor  which  way  to 
turn.  All  his  inquiries  and  search  for  it  being  un 
successful,  he  at  length  carried  the  evil  tidings  to 


276  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

Pomeroy  &  Co.  It  is  no  exaggeration  of  the  truth 
to  say  that  they  were  struck  aghast  by  the  intelli 
gence,  for  that  trunk  contained  bank  notes  amount 
ing  to  several  hundred  thousand  dollars  !  A  portion 
of  it  ($130,000)  consisted  of  sheets  of  Union  Bank 
notes,  registered,  but  not  signed  by  the  bank  offi 
cers,  and  there  was  about  $60,000  belonging  to 
Drew,  Robinson  &  Co.,  ready  for  use.  With  the 
exception  of  a  single  $500  note,  no  description  of 
the  money  had  been  retained  by  the  banker  in 
*  *  *  from  whom  the  Express  had  received 
it.  Crawford  Livingston  and  Major  Pullen  imme 
diately  notified  the  owners  of  the  notes  of  their  loss, 
and  the  description  of  the  $500  bill  was  furnished 
to  all  the  bankers  and  brokers  in  the  city.  Henry 
Wells,  also,  had  detectives  at  work  to  obtain  a  clue 
to  the  robbery.  Suspicion  rested  temporarily  upon 
the  unfortunate  messenger  and  two  equally  respect 
able  hotel  keepers,  one  of  whom  belonged  to  Syra 
cuse  and  the  other  to  New  York,  both  men  of 
property.  The  three  had  been  seen  talking  to 
gether  on  the  route  to  New  York  not  many  hours 
prior  to  the  robbery;  and  coupling  this  trivial  cir 
cumstance  with  the  incredible  story  of  the  messen 
ger,  that  he  had  left  the  trunk  containing  so  much 
money  upon  the  deck  of  the  steamer  with  no  one 
to  guard  it,  the  officers  thought  it  afforded  sufficient 
justification  for  the  arrest  of  the  gentlemen !  It 
was  a  damnable  thing  to  do — bringing  temporary 
odium  and  life-long  regret  to  these  innocent  per- 


EXPRESS      HISTORY.  277 

sons  and  their  families;  but  arrests  upon  mere  sus 
picion  are  common,  and  in  this  case  the  two  hotel 
keepers  were  speedily  released,  nothing  of  any  ac 
count  appearing  against  them.  In  the  meantime, 
every  effort  was  used  by  many  shrewd  heads  to 
ferret  out  the  real  robber,  but  in  vain.  At  length, 
just  one  month  after  the  loss,  the  teller  of  the  — 
Bank  found  among  the  bills  deposited  that  day  by 
a  very  worthy  firm  of  German  merchants,  doing 
business  at  No. Street,  a  $500  note  answer 
ing  exactly  to  the  description,  which  had  been  left 
with  him,  of  one  in  the  stolen  package  of  $60,000. 
There  could  be  no  question  of  its  identity,  and  had 
the  teller  taken  the  case  immediately  in  hand  him 
self,  and  worked  it  out  to  its  final  result,  as  he  might 
have  done  very  easily,  he  would  have  obtained  the 
large  reward  ($10,000)  which  had  been  offered; 
but  the  next  day  he  notified  the  Express  Co.  of  his 
discovery,  and  left  all  further  action  in  the  matter 
to  them.  Messrs.  Livingston  &  Wells  and  Major 
Pullen,  as  may  well  be  conceived,  pursued  the  scent 
with  the  utmost  avidity.  The  depositors  of  the  note 
stated  that  they  had  received  it  for  a  cash  purchase 
of  goods,  on  the  day  on  which  they  had  sent  it  to  the 
bank,  from  a  German  merchant  belonging  to  Mil- 
waukie,  named  Lackner,  whom  they  believed  was 
still  in  the  city.  One  of  the  firm  accompanied  an  offi 
cer,  in  order  to  identify  Lackner,  and  in  the  course 
of  a  day  or  two  he  was  seen  by  them  in  Broadway, 
and  followed  by  them  to  his  lodgings  in  Delancey 


278  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

Street,  where  they  found  him  in  company  with  a 
modest  and  pretty  young  woman,  whom  lie  had  mar 
ried  in  New  York  since  the  robbery,  in  which,  by  the 
way,  it  subsequently  appeared  she  had  had  no  hand. 

Lackner  offered  no  resistance  to  arrest,  but  con 
fessed  that  he  had  taken  the  messenger's  trunk 
from  the  boat,  and  covering  it  with  a  buffalo  robe, 
conveyed  it  to  his  room.  He  suspected  it  was  valu 
able,  as  he  knew  the  Express  messengers  carried  a 
good  deal  for  the  banks,  but  he  was  not  prepared 
upon  opening  it  to  see  it  so  full  of  money.  And 
here  we  must  remark,  that  the  trunk  had  two  com 
mon  inside  locks  to  it,  and  was  not  at  all  like  those 
now  in  use.  The  sheets  of  bank  notes,  not  signed, 
he  said  he  had  put  into  the  stove  and  burnt  up,  and 
this  was  confirmed  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  Union  Bank,  and  others,  for  a  mass  of 
the  cinders,  and  some  unburnt  fragments  of  the 
bills,  were  found  in  the  flue  of  the  chimney.  All, 
or  nearly  all,  the  rest  of  the  money  was  recovered. 

Lackner  was  committed  to  prison,  and  hung  him 
self  the  same  night.  His  unhappy  bride,  so  soon  a 
widow,  was  an  object  of  commiseration.  She  went 
soon  afterwards,  we  believe,  to  Milwaukie,  but  we 
know  nothing  of  her  subsequent  history. 

Another  Express  aslonisher  is  known  among  the 
craft  as  Ihe  Rochester  robbery.  It  occurred  some 
12  or  13  years  ago  in  the  R.  R.  Depot  at  Roches 
ter,  in  this  state.  The  trunk  of  the  messenger  of 
Wells  &  Co.,  containing  a  very  large  amount  of 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  279 

bank  money,  was  stolen,  and  another  trunk,  exactly 
corresponding  to  it  in  appearance,  substituted  in 
its  place.  In  short,  it  was  a  plot  very  similar  to 
that  used  in  the  robbery  of  the  two  boxes  of  gold 
three  years  ago.  and  through  the  exertions  of  Henry 
Wells,  and  that  excellent  detective,  Col.  A.  M.  C. 
Smith,  (now,  and  for  some  years  past,  Freight  Su 
perintendent  of  the  American  Express,)  the  robbers 
were  brought  to  justice,  and  the  money  recovered. 

Wm.  F.  Harnden  had  a  great  hatred  of  thieves, 
and  nothing  delighted  him  more  than  to  balk,  ex 
pose,  and  punish  them.  His  pockets,  when  he  trav 
elled  much  in  the  cars  and  steamboats,  were  a  trap 
for  the  pickpockets  abroad,  and  by  this  means  he 
would  catch  them  in  the  act,  and  put  them  under 
arrest.  It  is  said  that  on  one  occasion  a  pick 
pocket  was  a  little  too  much  for  him,  for  he  suc 
ceeded  in  abstracting  the  tempting  pocket  book, 
(full  of  worthless  notes,)  without  his  knowing  it, 
greatly  to  the  expressman's  chagrin. 

At  the  outset  of  Harnden's  brief  but  glorious  Ex 
press  career,  the  people  of  the  very  sedate  and  vir 
tuous  city  of  Boston  were  horrified  one  morning 
by  the  announcement  in  the  papers,  that  during  the 
night  the  store  of  the  jewelers,  Jones,  Lows  &  Co., 
had  been  robbed  of  more  than  $30,000  worth  of 
silver  plate.  Either  $3,000  or  $5,000  were  offered 
as  a  reward  for  the  conviction  of  the  robbers  and 
recovery  of  the  property.  The  police  officers  (in 
those  "  good  old  days"  called  constables)  were  on 


280  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

the  qui  vive.  Derastus  Clapp,  the  famous  detect 
ive,  was  on  the  alert;  but  it  was  reserved  for  an 
expressman  to  obtain  the  clue  and  ferret  out  the 
robber,  llarndou  stuck  to  his  express  duties  as 
usual,  but,  nevertheless,  his  active  brain  was  busy, 
and  the  requisite  senses  were  bent  upon  discover 
ing  who  stole  the  silver  plate. 

It  was  not  long  before  his  skill  and  untiring  per 
severance  were  rewarded.  He  traced  the  robbery 
home  to  its  perpetrator — a  noted  villain  whom  he 
had  soon  ol'ton  in  tho  oars- — and,  with- 1  lie  valuable 
assistanoo  of  Clapp.  tho  rol>bor  was  arrostod  and  all 
the  stolen  goods  recovered.  The  officer,  we  believe, 
received  the  reward,  or  a  portion  of  it.  Harnden 
generously  declining  to  receive  a  share  of  it,  was 
presented  by  the  grateful  jewelers  with  a  valuable 
gold  watch  suitably  inscribed. 

EXPRESS  ROUTINE. 

THE    QUALIFICATIONS   AND  DUTIES   OP  AGENTS,    MESSENGERS, 
CLERKS   AND  DRIVERS. 

Extraordinary  care  arid  judgment  should  be 
used  by  Express  proprietors  and  superintendents 
in  the  selection  of  their  agents/  clerks,  messengers 
and  drivers.  Indeed,  however  humble  the  duty  of 
the  employee,  it  is  in  his  power  (or  he  may  be 
made  a  tool  in  the  hands  of  designing  knaves)  to 
injure  the  Express  Company. 

Tho  mass  of  inon — ovon  thoso  familiar  with  mor- 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  281 

cantlle  affairs,  are  not  adapted  naturally  to  the 
duties  of  Express  agents.  It  is  of  some  import 
ance  that  the  agent  should  enjoy  the  respect  and 
friendly  regard  of  the  community  in  which  he  is 
located;  but  this  of  itself  does  not  fit  him  for  his 
duties.  He  should  be  constantly  alive  to  the  re 
sponsibility  of  his  position,  assiduous  in  his  atten 
tion  to  the  work  assigned  to  him,  and  prompt  in 
the  execution  of  it.  Accustomed  to  receiving  and 
forwarding  large  amounts  of  money  and  valuables, 
his  natural  tendency  is  to  suffer  his  watchfulness  to 
diminish,  which  of  course  is  wrong.  A  want  of 
caution  is  inherent  in  mankind.  We  see  or  hear 
of  this  failing  constantly,  even  in  those  whose  lives 
are  a  constant  scene  of  danger.  The  soldier  and 
sailor  are  proverbially  careless.  The  engineer, 
upon  his  locomotive,  dashing  along  by  the  brink  of 
precipices,  over  a  route  strewn  with  the  debris  of 
numerous  railroad  catastrophies,  has  been  known  to 
sleep  at  his  post.  It  was  but  for  a  minute  or  two, 
perhaps,  and  it  may  have  been  a  very  rare  thing, 
but  carelessness  almost  as  great  as  that  is  by  no 
means  uncommon.  It  cannot  be  wondered  at, 
then,  that  Express  agents  and  their  clerks  should 
in  some  instances  prove  to  be  lacking  in  watchful 
ness;  still  it  does  not  justify  them,  and  the  em 
ployee  so  offending  should  be  immediately  dis 
charged.  The  company  has  too  much  at  stake  to 
intrust  it  to  such  hands.  When  we  reflect  that 
millions  of  dollars,  in  charge  of  the  Express,  are 

18* 


282  EXPRESS      HISTORY. 

in  transitu  daily,  entirely  at  the  mercy  of  the 
agents  and  messengers,  the  importance  of  having 
only  those  who  are  faithful  and  careful,  constant 
ly,  demands  no  further  demonstration.  The  em 
ployees  who  are  to  fill  these  responsible  berths 
should  be  selected  cautiously,  and  never  with  a  view 
to  their  cheapness.  Their  antecedents  (to  make 
use  of  a  term  which  has  lately  come  into  fashion) 
ought  to  be  carefully  inquired  into,  and  their  pres 
ent  habits,  too,  are  a  fit  subject  for  consideration. 
Had  this  been  done  in  the  case  of  one  messenger, 
at  least,  it  would  have  saved  him  from  a  crime 
which  has  carried  him  to  a  State  Prison,  and  the 
Express  Company  from  a  loss  of  not  less  than 
$30,000. 

What  we  have  said  of  the  necessity  of  watch 
fulness  in  Express  agents  will  apply  with  equal, 
or  perhaps  greater  force  to  Express  messengers. 
They  should  always  bear  in  mind,  that  great  as  is 
their  bodily  exposure  to  accidents,  their  reputation 
should  be  as  dear  to  them  as  life  or  limb.  In  case 
a  loss  occurs  of  any  money  parcel  or  valuable  pack 
age  in  his  charge,  the  messenger  has  to  bear  no 
inconsiderable  share  of  the  onus  of  it.  The  un 
charitable  and  mean-minded  will  not  hesitate  to 
suspect  him  of  the  robbery,  however  irreproacha 
ble  may  be  his  moral  character.  It  behooves  him, 
therefore,  to  be  always  vigilant  and  attentive  to  his 
trust. 

Express  clerks  are  usually  a  very  worthy  class 


EXPRESS     HISTORY.  283 

of  men,  but  there  are  exceptions,  of  whom  the 
most  frequent  complaint  is,  that  they  are  uncivil  to 
customers,  especially  when  in  a  hurry.  Such  fel 
lows  do  far  more  hurt  than  good  to  the  company 
whose  misfortune  it  is  to  employ  them. 

To  be  a  good  Express  driver  is  prima  facie  evi 
dence  of  gentlemanly  traits  of  character.  He  is  no 
mere  Jehu,  but  honorable,  intelligent,  shrewd, 
polite,  though  off-hand,  and  zealous  in  the  work. 
If  the  driver  is  not  all  of  this,  he  is  not  fitted  for 
his  place. 


284 


EXPRESS     HISTORY. 


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